Elon Musk had predicted that the people of San Francisco will not like him when they sit as jurors in any one of the several trials he faces this year. He seems to be right as potential jurors have described him as narcissistic, smart, and a little ‘off his rocker.’ Image Credit: AFP
Elon Musk is facing trial for a false Tweet he made in 2018 when he claimed that he had secured the funds to take Tesla private at $420 a share. And before the trial even begins officially, it looks like he has already lost the trial.
Several legal experts and professors of law have already said that it is highly unlikely that Musk will get a verdict in his favour, as the judge presiding in the matter has already ruled that Musk’s Tweet was false and that he plans to allow that judgement to be read in front of the jurors.
Now, it seems that jurors who will be deciding Musk’s fate on allegations of stock manipulation and fraud find him a bit odd.
Jury selection began on Tuesday in a San Francisco courtroom over whether Elon Musk committed fraud with a pair of 2018 tweets saying he was poised to take Tesla private.
“The claim is that the investors felt that they were defrauded by Musk’s tweet, that he was considering taking Tesla private and critically, that he had funding secured for it,” Robert Bartlett, law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told Reuters.
“That turned out not to be the case. So when the stock price rose after the news, they allegedly bought, and then it collapsed when the truth came out. They claimed that that was a fraud.”
The Tesla CEO, however, argued that he believed he had secured funding from Saudi Arabia’s Investment Fund and did not commit securities fraud.
Jurors in the US are supposed to fill out a questionnaire which is used by lawyers of both sides, the prosecutors as well as the defendants to determine if a particular juror can be unbiased or not.
“I think he’s a little off his rocker, on a personal level,” one possible juror wrote.
“I truly believe you can’t judge a person until you walk in their shoes,” said another possible juror, who added that Mr Musk seemed “narcissistic.”
Another person said Mr Musk had a “mercenary” personality because he’s “willing to take risks… that’s my image of him.”
Another called him a “fast-rising businessman,” while yet another said he was a “smart, successful pioneer.”
“I think he is not a very likeable person,” said one person, according to Yahoo.
With nine jurors being selected for the trial, opening arguments will be read out on Wednesday, Pacific Standard Time. The trial is expected to last around three weeks.
Musk had previously requested that all his trials in the city of San Francisco, and preferably in the state of California be transferred to some other state.
Musk’s lawyers argued that given Musk had to let go of a number of people when he took over, it is impossible for residents of California and San Francisco, in particular, to be not biased against him.
However, the presiding judge refused to entertain his plea and has ruled that while the trial may be shifted to a different city in case it approaches a mistrial based on certain conditions, the trial will take place in the state of California.
Musk may be required to pay billions of dollars in damages if a San Francisco jury decides in the shareholders’ favour.
For the tweet, he previously paid the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) $20 million, and Tesla was required to pay a further $20 million.
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