Elon Musk found liable for defrauding Twitter investors

A San Francisco jury ruled Friday that Elon Musk defrauded Twitter investors during his chaotic $44 billion acquisition of the platform in 2022 — and the damages could exceed $2.6 billion.

As reported on by Courthouse News Service, the case centers on a series of tweets and public statements Musk made in May 2022, when he publicly cast doubt on the deal by claiming spam and bot accounts made up a significant portion of Twitter's user base. Investors argued he was manufacturing an excuse to either back out or renegotiate the deal on cheaper terms, tanking the stock in the process. The lead plaintiffs in the case sued Musk in October 2022.

After deliberation, the jury unanimously found that Musk's May 13 and May 17 tweets were materially false or misleading. They did not, however, find him liable for a May 16 conference comment in which he claimed that 20% of Twitter users were spam accounts. The jury also rejected the plaintiffs' broader fraud scheme claims.

Musk's legal team has already signaled they'll appeal, calling the verdict "a bump in the road."

Plaintiff attorney Mark Molumphy told Courthouse News the verdict makes clear that wealth doesn't exempt anyone from accountability — a point that feels increasingly worth making these days.