Elon Musk's 'Funding Secured' Tweets Ruled False By A Judge: Court Filing Released

A court filing released on Friday says a judge has ruled that Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk knowingly made false statements when he tweeted about securing funds to take Tesla private in 2018.

What Happened: According to the April 1 filing, federal judge Edward Chen concluded that Musk's statements were "false and misleading," and made "recklessly and with full awareness of the facts that he misrepresented in his tweets."

Shareholders are suing Tesla over money they lost after Musk tweeted in 2018. The tweet indicated he was considering taking his electric vehicle company private at $420 per share, and he has enough funding to do so. 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Musk with fraud following the tweets. Tesla and Musk struck a revised settlement agreement in 2019 over those charges.

Also Read: Musk Reacted To His Own 2017 Tweet About Twitter: 'How Much Is It?'

Musk is trying to nullify his settlement with the SEC and accusing the agency of harassing him with investigations.

At a recent TED conference, the Tesla CEO called financial regulators at the SEC’s San Francisco office “bastards.”

A lawyer for Musk and Tesla, Alex Spiro, said, “nothing will ever change the truth, which is that Elon Musk was considering taking Tesla private and could have.”

“All that’s left some half-decade later is random plaintiffs’ lawyers trying to make a buck and others trying to block that truth from coming to light all to the detriment of free speech,” Spiro said on Saturday.

What's Next: Tesla Investors asked in the filing to block the celebrity entrepreneur from his "public campaign to present a contradictory and false narrative regarding" his 2018 tweets.

The filing reads, Musk "has used his fame and notoriety to sway public opinion in his favor, waging battle in the press having been defeated in the courtroom."

The issues will be at the center of a May jury trial, in which the investors are seeking damages over the tweets.

Also Read: Elon Musk, Tesla Silent On Well-Being Of Locked Down Shanghai Workers

Photo: Courtesy of NASA HQ PHOTO on Flickr