Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, faced a securities fraud trial in San Francisco on Tuesday. The lawsuit was filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over his tweets about taking Tesla private last year. During the proceedings, Musk defended himself against allegations that he had misled investors with his comments. He argued that he believed what he wrote was accurate at the time it was shared publicly.
Musk also explained to jurors why he used Twitter to make statements about Tesla’s potential privatization instead of other methods such as press releases or filing documents with regulators. He said it made sense for him to use social media because “Twitter is where I have followers.” Furthermore, Musk noted that news outlets often pick up stories from Twitter first before any official announcement is made publically elsewhere.
The SEC has accused Musk of violating federal security laws when tweeting without approval from company lawyers about potentially taking Tesla private at $420 per share in August 2018 which caused its stock price to plummet.
Read more at cnbc.com
