The judge found no evidence that allowing Elon Musk to speak publicly posed a “serious threat” to a trial.
Elon Musk won’t be subject to a “gag order” preventing him from discussing a lawsuit alleging he misled Tesla Inc shareholders by tweeting in 2018 about taking his electric car company privately, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco agreed with Musk and Tesla that the proposed temporary injunction appears excessive because it prevents Musk from talking to “anyone” about the case.
Chen also found no evidence that letting Musk, the world’s richest person according to Forbes, speak publicly poses “a clear and present danger” or a “serious and imminent threat.” for a trial.
But the judge also said he plans to tell jurors at the trial scheduled for January 2023 that he has ruled that Musk’s tweets were false and presented with full opinion. consciousness is wrong.
Shareholders sued over losses due to the volatility of Tesla stock after Musk tweeted on August 7, 2018, that he had “secured funding” to potentially take Tesla private for 420 USD/share and that “investor backing has been confirmed.”
Nicholas Porritt, an attorney for the shareholders, in an email said he was pleased jurors would be instructed that the tweets “were untrue and were defrauded by Elon Musk”. He said the main remaining issue is the amount of compensation.
Attorneys for Musk and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The April 15 request for a gag order came a day after Musk told the TED conference in Vancouver that he had arranged funding to take Tesla private, but the US Securities and Exchange Commission had sue him for fraud over his tweets.
Musk and Tesla said the proposed gag order “suggests a degree of censorship” that cannot be reconciled with the US Constitution’s guarantee of free speech.
They also said an order could prevent Musk from communicating with Tesla shareholders, discussing his proposed purchase of Twitter Inc and attempting to end his consent decree with the SEC, which requires the laws Tesla’s engineer had to check some of his tweets.
Musk has said that he would never lie to shareholders. He offered to buy back Twitter for $54.20 per share.
The lawsuit is Tesla Inc Securities Litigation, United States District Court, Northern District of California, number 18-04865.
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