Musk Cleared Of Fraud Over 2018 Tweets

A US jury has found Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk and his company not culpable in a securities fraud case over Musk’s tweets in 2018.

Misk had been accused of masterminding a gigantic financial fraud to finance an electric car company.

Musk has defended his innocence in the case amid inquest into his growing fondness to tweet broadly.

The jury came back with a verdict roughly two hours after beginning deliberations.

“The jury got it right,” Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, told reporters after the verdict. He declined to say more.

The world’s second-richest person has previously created legal and regulatory headaches through his sometimes impulsive use of Twitter, the social media company he bought for US$44 billion in October.

Musk’s attention has been divided in recent months between Tesla, his rocket company SpaceX and now Twitter. Tesla investors have expressed concerns that running the social media company has taken up too much of his focus.

Tesla shareholders claim Musk misled them when he tweeted on 7 August 2018, that he was considering taking the company private at US$420 per share, a premium of about 23 per cent to the prior day’s close, and had “funding secured.”

They say Musk lied when he tweeted later that day that “investor support is confirmed.”

The stock price soared after the tweets and then fell again after 17 August 2018, as it became clear the buyout would not happen.

A lawyer for the shareholders told jurors that the billionaire CEO is not above the law, and should be held liable for the tweets.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.