Musk testifies, claims tweet that judge ruled false was “absolutely truthful”
Elon Musk spent a full day on the witness stand today to discuss the infamous "funding secured" tweets in which he claimed to have financial backing for a deal to take Tesla private.
Judge Edward Chen already ruled that Musk's statements in August 2018 about having "funding secured" to take Tesla private were false "and that Mr. Musk recklessly made those representations." Chen told the jury they must assume the tweets were false, but that they must also decide whether Musk knew the tweets were untrue and whether the tweets gave reasonable investors an impression of Tesla's situation that was different from reality.
Today, Musk said the "funding secured" tweet was "absolutely truthful" and that he had received a verbal funding commitment at a meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, managing director of the Saudi Arabia government's Public Investment Fund (PIF). "I felt we had a deal, and it was a done deal," Musk said.
When plaintiff's attorney Nicholas Porritt asked Musk about messages from Al-Rumayyan stating that the PIF needed more details before moving ahead, Musk said the Saudi official was "backpedaling" and "ass-covering, for lack of a better word."
