Elon Musk Faces Legal Heat As Judge Probes Into Twitter Stock Manipulation Lawsuit

The tussle between former Twitter investors and Elon Musk embraced a fresh stance recently as a judge ruled out a concrete decision on the matter.

In his recent court chronicle, Elon Musk, founder of X, formerly known as Twitter, appears to be facing a lawsuit following his aggressive strategies to slash the firm’s price value. The lawsuit against Musk comes as a lead-up to finalizing Twitter’s $44 billion acquisition last year.

Ever since the X’s inception within the social media industry, Musk seems to be in an unceasing skirmish with court proceedings. The social media platform recently forged ahead with multiple court filings, orchestrating a wave of frenzy within the industry.

Judge Cracks Down On Musk’s Past Statements

Judge Stephen Breyer, in his recent ruling, emphasized false statements made by Elon Musk concerning a proposed acquisition made earlier. Intriguingly, Musk earlier proclaimed that the acquisition was temporarily delayed due to the need for data supporting a specific condition for the merger. He further portrayed that he had the right to terminate the deal following the delay.

The particular condition encompassed data jacking up the calculation of total spam or fake users on the platform. To this, investors argued that the delay comes as a result of the condition for the merger. However, Musk insisted that his statement was technically true as the deal was genuinely delayed further.

Conversely, Breyer differed, stressing Musk’s assertion that Twitter’s obligation to provide data was false. Moreover, the judge refused to dismiss a claim regarding Musk’s tweet reflecting a higher percentage of fake accounts on the platform. The tweet made it seem like Musk had the authority to inspect things and back out from the merger. Meanwhile, the judge found it misleading on Musk’s part, ruling against him.

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A Brief History

Elon Musk faced a lawsuit last year accusing him of intentionally lowering Twitter’s stock value to renegotiate the acquisition deal. Intriguingly, Twitter’s shares dropped from $71.69 in July to $43.42 in March 2022, influencing Musk to believe he’s getting a bargain. However, his Tesla stock, which came as collateral, also plunged roughly 37% during this period. This prompted a margin call for the $12.5 billion loan Musk took, collateralized by this stock.

Aligning with the afore-stated information, the lawsuit stressed that the statements made by Musk come as untrue as he might have needed to cover a shortage if he got a margin call.

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