Elon Musk is back in the witness arena in San Francisco on Monday, as he and several current and former Tesla managers face charges of defrauding investors after his infamous “secured financing” tweet from August 2018.
There, Musk confirmed that he was sure he had the financing to take Tesla public at $420 a share at the time. And that the show was serious.
– It felt that acquisition financing was only secured by SpaceX shares, according to the report Reuters appeared before the jury in federal court during his five-hour testimony where the Tesla founder also revealed that he was tired from lack of sleep.
Saudi meeting
Musk went on to talk about his meeting with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF) on August 31, 2018, at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California. The price was not discussed, but the representatives made it clear that they would do what was required to complete the transaction.
Later, the investment director of the Public Investment Fund, Yasser Al-Rumayyan, retracted this matter.
Plaintiffs’ counsel: Nicholas Poiret. Photo: NTB
“I was so upset that he was so vocal in his support of Tesla’s ad when we met,” Musk said.
Sow doubt
According to the news agency, the plaintiff’s attorney, Nicholas Porritt, doubted Musk would use SpaceX shares for the financing because he would have increased his stake in Tesla — which contradicts the fact that, according to the attorney, Musk told Tesla employees at the time the transaction would not change the shareholding.
Porritt also referred to the minutes from the Saudi meeting and a letter from the Public Investment Fund that the fund wanted to know more about Musk’s plans.
Musk later stated that he was going to sell shares of SpaceX to fund the Tesla acquisition, just as he gave up ownership of Tesla to take Twitter public for $44 billion last year.
SEC settlement
According to Reuters, Musk was also sued by the US Financial Conduct Authority (SEC) over his tweets in August 2018, and entered into a $40 million settlement with Tesla – in exchange for Tesla’s lawyer’s participation via the tweets. before they are sent.
Musk – Attorney: Alex Spiro. Photo: NTB
The SEC alleged that Musk rounded Tesla’s offer from $419 to $420 a share. He shared because before he had heard about “the importance of the number 420 in marijuana culture,” and that his girlfriend thought it was funny.
– The course was chosen because it represents a 20% bonus, and it was no joke, Musk replied, according to the news agency.
Of course, Tesla shares have split twice since Musk wrote the much-discussed tweets. The price of $420 in 2018 corresponds to just $28 today as splits have resulted in a 15-fold increase in shares.
The Tesla founder will return to court in San Francisco on Tuesday for the third day of testimony.
“Explorer. Unapologetic entrepreneur. Alcohol fanatic. Certified writer. Wannabe tv evangelist. Twitter fanatic. Student. Web scholar. Travel buff.”
