Musk's Tesla Tweet-Fraud Accusers Say He Misled Jury 10 Times

Elon Musk has denied any wrongdoing in the wake of the SEC's lawsuit against him.

The investors who accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of lying when he tweeted about taking the electric-car maker private say his trial testimony supports their case.

In an emergency court filing, lawyers for the investors complained late Thursday that Musk and his lawyers have created confusion for the jury over the three days the billionaire spent on the witness stand.

"On at least ten occasions, Mr. Musk testified to the accuracy and truthfulness of the 'funding secured' tweets," the SEC wrote. "Moreover, even though this court already found that Mr. Musk acted recklessly, he testified that his intentions were pure."

It's not uncommon for people accused of lying to defend themselves in court by saying they told the truth. But sometimes, the truth is not enough to convince the jury.

This case is unusual because the judge had previously ruled that key pieces of Musk's August 2018 tweets were false and reckless. He told the jury at the outset of the trial to assume as much, which makes it difficult for Musk to defend himself.

Then, for good measure, US District Judge Edward Chen cautioned the jury again a few days into trial that the tweets were false. Thursday's filing is a request for yet another warning to the jury.

The filing reprises several colloquies while Musk was on the stand defending his famous tweet on Aug. 7, 2018. In that tweet, Musk said he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share. He claimed to have funding secured for such a deal, but the SEC said that was not the case.

Musk testified on Monday that his tweet about Tesla going private was "absolutely truthful." He said that a commitment by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund to support the go-private plan, and his ability to tap into his SpaceX shares to finance the deal, meant that he had "funding secured."

On Tuesday, he told the jury that he had no "ill motive" when he tweeted and that he wanted to do the "right thing for shareholders" by informing them about the go-private plan.

The trial will resume on Friday with testimony expected from Egon Durban, the co-chief executive officer of private equity firm Silver Lake, and Dan Dees, a top executive at Goldman Sachs. Both of these individuals consulted with Musk about his plan.

In the Tesla Inc. Securities Litigation case, the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the company had misled investors about the production of its Model 3 cars. The court found that Tesla had made false and misleading statements about the production of the cars, and ordered the company to pay a $20 million fine.