Elon Musk testifies in second day of Tesla tweet trial; says buying share at $420 was no joke

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reappeared in San Francisco federal courtroom on Monday as the trial over his 2018 tweets continues. The billionaire has been accused of defrauding investors and costing them millions of dollars with a pair of allegedly false tweets about having the funding secured to take Tesla private.

During the trial, Musk told jurors he was sure he had locked up “financial support" from Saudi investors.“So essentially I took that to mean it was a done deal," Musk said. But when confronted with exchanges, the investors demanded more details before committing to his buyout plan, to which Musk said that the fund was “backpedalling,” AFP reported.

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He testified that he understood the fund would do whatever it took to take Tesla private and had plenty of wealthto do it.

Referring to SpaceX, Musk told the jury with SpaceX’s stock alone, he felt funding was secured for the buyout. He added that he eventually chose not to take Tesla private due to a lack of support from the investors.

A lawyer of plaintiffs argued that Musk’s buyout figure at $420 is a popular rallying code for marijuana, which Musk uses.

The billionaire said, “420 was not chosen because of a joke; it was chosen because there was a 20 percent premium over the stock price.”

He added that there was “some karma around 420” which he questions whether it is good or bad.

During the testimony, Musk also referred to short sellers as “evil.” He told jurors, “It's difficult to appreciate just how much attack Tesla was under by short sellers who wanted Tesla to die.”

As his lawyer took over the questioning, Musk said, “I’m being acused of fraud; it’s outrageous.”

The testimony is set to conclude on Tuesday.

(with inputs from agencies)

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