Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his 2018 tweet about taking Tesla private was “entirely truthful,” amidst claims that the statement was a fraud, reveals new court filings, reports Bloomberg.
In a court filing on Tuesday, Musk’s lawyers said that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund agreed to support plans to take the automaker private.
Musk’s tweet was flagged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), causing the agency to sue Musk for fraud.
After settling with the agency, Musk agreed to pay $40 million in fines and stepped down from his role as chairman.
Tesla’s Elon Musk Makes Tracking His Private Jet Harder https://t.co/dtXQu4I74M
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) January 30, 2022
A heavily redacted statement from the filing made on Tuesday by attorney Alex Spiro emphasized that the tweet was “informing the public,” adding that Musk had planned to take the company private with “funding secured.”
In the statement, Spiro said, “Elon Musk’s August 7, 2018 tweet informing the public that he was considering taking Tesla private was entirely truthful.” Spiro continued, “Mr. Musk was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share. Funding was secured. There was investor support.”
Investors into Tesla say that the tweet caused volatility in the company’s share price, ultimately resulting in billions of dollars in losses.
A trial is set for May 31, with a hearing scheduled in March.
Last month, those in a lawsuit over Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity requested that the judge make Musk repay billions of dollars from the deal.
