Musk’s lawyer argued to the appeals court that the San Francisco verdict confirms that Musk’s tweets didn’t violate securities laws. Investors had sued Musk over the “funding secured” tweet, claiming he defrauded them. A federal jury took just two hours to clear him, sending shares of the electric car maker surging.
That verdict is irrelevant, the SEC said in response Thursday. Musk forfeited his chance to test the SEC’s claims at trial when he twice voluntarily agreed to settle, according to the filing.
“Even if the verdict were somehow relevant, Musk reads too much into it,” the SEC said. The settlement “was not conditioned upon the outcome of the private litigation,” lawyers for the agency added. “The Commission had no role in that case.”
Source: Elon Musk Trial Win a ‘Non Sequitur’ in Twitter Sitter Case, SEC Says – Bloomberg
