Trial for Elon Musk's 2018 plan to take Tesla private part 2

Mr Musk could prevail if the jury finds that other statements he made were true and that those statements could have caused movements in Tesla’s stock

His attorneys have cited statements that, in their opinion, fit that description in court documents For instance, one of Mr Musks attorneys, Alex Spiro, argued that his indisputably true declaration that he was considering taking Tesla private may have contributed to the changes in the stock price of Tesla

Any normal defendant would settle this case, said Mr Pritchard, but he does have something that is worth trying

Tesla, Mr Musk and Mr Spiro did not respond to requests for comment

While Mr Musk has always struggled to show that he had the funding to take Tesla private, he may seek to introduce new evidence and testimony in court that backs him up

He has maintained that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund agreed to provide the financing

Text messages between Mr Musk and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who oversees the Saudi fund, emerged early last year in court filings

The messages show Mr Musk asking about the fund’s commitment to the deal Mr Al-Rumayyan responds that Tesla hadn’t provided enough information

This is an extremely weak statement and does not reflect the conversation we had at Tesla,” Mr Musk wrote in an August 2018 text

You said you were definitely interested in taking Tesla private and had wanted to do so since 2016”