Attorney for stakeholders claims that Musk "lied" when he tweeted about buying Tesla

Elon Musk could end up taking the stand as early as Friday in the ongoing San Francisco trial alleging that he deceptively drove up the price of Tesla Motors’ stock by tweeting about a plan to take the carmaker private, which never came to pass

As arguments began on Wednesday, the attorney for a group of shareholders charged that Elon Musk “lied” when he tweeted in 2018 that he had “secured” funding to take Tesla private The case seeks to hold the firm’s CEO responsible for “billions” investors say they lost after the claim drove up the share price

While the plaintiffs portrayed Musk as a reckless liar who caused “regular people” to lose millions, the defense team for the tech billionaire painted him as a well-intentioned visionary, who merely used the “wrong words” in describing the deal

Tesla investor Glen Littleton is seeking damages on behalf of shareholders who traded the company’s stock in the days after Musk posted his plan to take the company private on Twitter in August 2018

Littleton, a 71-year-old investor from Kansas City, Missouri, was the first witness called to the stand He said Musk’s claim about the financing alarmed him because he had purchased Tesla investments designed to reward him for his belief that the automaker’s stock would eventually be worth far more than the 420

He said he sold most of his holdings to cut his losses but still saw the value of his Tesla portfolio plunge by 75 “The damage was done,” Littleton lamented “I was in a state of shock”

The case may hinge on whether Musk knowingly drove up Tesla’s share price with his 2018 tweets, saying he was securing funding to take the company private in what would have been a 72bn buyout The stock collapsed a week later, when it became clear that he didn’t have the financial backing to pull off the deal

Millions of dollars were lost when his lies came to light, Nicholas Porritt, the investors lead attorney, testified before a San Francisco jury on Wednesday The trial is scheduled to last three weeks Nine people will decide on Tuesday whether or not the tweets artificially inflated Teslas share price by exaggerating the funding status of the deal, and if so, how much

Some prospective jurors labelled the chief executive, who has developed a reputation for being unpredictable, as narcissistic, unpredictable, and a little off his rocker during Tuesdays jury selection Alex Spiro, however, the controversial CEOs lawyer, claimed that Musk was serious about the transaction In his opening remarks, Spiro stated, You will learn very soon that this was not fraud, not even close According to Spiro, Musk thought that financing was not a problem and was taking steps to close a deal

Littletons credibility as an investor was repeatedly questioned during cross-examination by a lawyer for Teslas board of directors, but the investor resisted the questions According to Littletons testimony, Funding secured was the only thing that mattered to me Such a defining statement, I thought According to US District Judge Edward Chen, who is presided over the trial, Musk acted recklessly when he made false statements about the deals status Deal did not go through

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