Tesla CEO Elon Musk will face trial on Tuesday for allegedly misleading the stock market with his tweet in 2018. A federal judge had rejected his request to move the case out of California on Friday.
Back in 2018, Musk tweeted that he had sufficient funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share. The tweet caused a whirlwind in the company's share price, and Musk was promptly sued by shareholders for costing them billions of dollars for his post, reported AFP.
According to reports, US District Judge Edward Chen on Friday refused to transfer the proceedings to Texas, where the headquarters of Tesla has been moved.
The defence lawyers had raised concerns about denying a fair trial in San Franciso. Musk bought Twitter last year for which he had been widely criticised.
However, Tesla stock trading was halted following the 'misleading' tweet. Also, the US stock market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, ordered that Musk step down as chairman of the board of Tesla and pay a fine of $20 million following the tweet, AFP reported.
Also according to reports, Judge Edward Chen has already determined that Musk's buyout tweet was false, leaving it to a jury to decide whether he recklessly. After adjusting for two stock splits made since 2018, Tesla's shares are now worth nearly six times more than at the time of Musk's tweets about the bogus buyout, PTI reported.
According to reports, Tesla's shares, currently hovering around USD 120, have lost nearly half their value since Musk took control of Twitter, partially affecting investor concerns.
