A federal jury in San Francisco, USA, ruled on the 20th local time that American entrepreneur Elon Musk intentionally depressed the stock price of Twitter (now renamed X) and "misled investors" during its acquisition in 2022, holding him liable for this. However, the jury dismissed the fraud allegation that Musk participated in "scheming" to mislead investors. The lawsuit was filed before Musk took over Twitter. The jury was asked to determine whether two tweets Musk posted in May 2022 and his remarks on a related podcast constituted "intentional fraud against Twitter shareholders." After nearly four days of deliberation, the nine-member jury ruled that Musk was liable for "misleading investors" by posting the aforementioned two tweets, but his remarks on the podcast did not constitute misleading, and he did not intentionally "scheme" to defraud investors.
This ruling represents a rare defeat for Musk, whose legal team stated they will appeal. Musk announced in April 2022 his intention to acquire Twitter for $44 billion and declared the termination of the acquisition agreement on July 8. Twitter sued Musk on July 12, accusing him of refusing to complete the acquisition as agreed and causing significant losses to the company. (Reuters)