A federal jury in California has ruled that tech billionaire Elon Musk defrauded Twitter shareholders, causing the stock price to plummet as he prepared to buy the company in a $44 billion deal.
The verdict was handed down Friday in federal court in San Francisco after a three-week trial. The jury concluded that two tweets by Musk in May 2022 contained false statements that contributed to the decline in the value of Twitter's stock.
The lawsuit was filed by investor Giuseppe Pampena on behalf of shareholders who had sold Twitter shares between mid-May and early October 2022.
According to the plaintiffs' lawyers, the damages could reach about $2.6 billion. However, the nine-member jury ruled that Musk did not organize a deliberate scheme to defraud investors.
Immediately after the decision, Musk's lawyers announced that he would appeal the decision, calling it a "temporary injunction."
Musk bought the platform in October 2022 and later renamed it X. He has recently integrated the platform with artificial intelligence company xAI and his space exploration firm SpaceX.
According to Forbes, Musk's wealth is estimated at around $839 billion, mainly from his stakes in companies like Tesla and SpaceX.
