Elon Musk has admitted in a US court that when tweeting about Tesla obtaining funding in 2018, he disregarded his advisors and investors.
Musk, who appeared briefly on Friday during his ongoing trial in a class-action lawsuit filed by Tesla investors in a court here, said, “I suppose I continued to tweet, yes,” when asked if he ignored the pleas from his well-wishers.
According to The Verge, the billionaire was also asked to describe the relationship between his tweets and Tesla’s retail investors.
“I care a great deal about retail investors. There are our most loyal and steadfast investors,” he told the court.
He also suggested that “short selling” be made illegal.
“It is a means, in my opinion, for bad people on Wall Street to steal money from small investors. Not good,” said Musk
Musk’s infamous 2018 statements on taking Tesla private have come back to haunt him, and he stands to lose billions.
The plaintiffs claim that Musk’s tweets on taking Tesla private, in which he claimed to have ‘funding secured,’ cost them millions of dollars.
Musk tweeted in August 2018: “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”
“Shareholders could either sell at 420 or hold shares & go private,” he added.
His infamous tweet cost him his position as Chairman of Tesla.
Musk and Tesla settled fraud charges with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as a result of the August 2018 tweet.
The settlement included a $40 million penalty divided equally between the company and Musk, as well as Musk’s ouster as chairman of the Tesla board of directors.
