Elon Musk will face a securities fraud lawsuit over 2018 tweets in which he discusses keeping Tesla private. Jury selection will begin today, January 17. The story begins on August 7, 2018, when Tesla’s CEO announced on Twitter that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share.

Investor Glen Littleton is suing Tesla, Elon Musk, and Tesla’s board members, alleging that the entrepreneur’s tweets were false and caused Tesla stock, options and bond prices to fluctuate, costing investors billions of dollars. Elon Musk has said that he is really considering privatizing Tesla and believes he has the backing of Saudi Arabia’s state wealth fund to do so. The deal, which would have been worth approximately $72 billion, never materialized.

US District Judge Edward Chen ruled that Elon Musk’s tweets about keeping the company private were untrue and acted recklessly in doing so. Jurors will have to decide whether Musk’s tweets are important to investors and whether they know they are untrue.

As Jill Fish, professor of securities law at the University of Pennsylvania, explains, this case is unusual as securities fraud cases are often resolved before court, for example through a settlement agreement. According to him, the defendants in this case face a “hard battle” over the judge’s pre-trial ruling on the veracity of Musk’s statements. Attorneys for Elon Musk, Tesla, and other board members did not respond to requests for comment. Source