Elon Musk Ordered To Face Lawsuits Regarding Twitter Purchase

Elon Musk is back in court. (photo: twitter @P_Kalillioniemi)

JAKARTA - Elon Musk was ordered by a US judge to face lawsuits stating that he deceived a former Twitter shareholder last year. He did this by waiting too long to reveal that he had invested in the social media company, which he later bought and changed his name to X.

In a decision announced on Monday, October 2, US District Judge Andrew Carter said shareholders in the proposed class action demands could try to prove that Musk intends to trick them by waiting 11 days past the US Securities and Exchange Commission deadline to reveal that he has purchased 5% of Twitter shares. The Manhattan judge also rejected insider trading's claim against Musk.

Musk's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the media on Tuesday, October 3.

Pemegang saham yang dipimpin oleh dana pensiun pemadam kebakaran Oklahoma mengatakan Musk menghematkan lebih dari 200 juta dolar AS (Rp3,1 triliun) dengan menambah saham Twitter-nya, dan secara dengan secara dengan eksekutif perusahaan tentang rencananya, sebelum akhirnya mengungkapkan kepemilikan saham sebesar 9,2% pada April 2022.

Shareholders also said they sold Twitter shares at a price that was too low because Musk was hiding what he was doing. But Musk's lawyers argue that his client is "one of the busiest people on the planet," and that the failure to disclose anything was "unintentional."

Carter said he couldn't conclude Musk was "too busy" to comply with SEC rules if he could find time to buy Twitter shares, meet company executives, and post online about Twitter.

He also found evidence that Musk understood the 5% disclosure rules, including that he had testified about it under oath, and had properly disclosed share ownership in Tesla and SolarCity electric car manufacturers at least 20 times.

Katie Sinderson, a lawyer for the petitioners, declined to comment. Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October.

According to SEC rules, investors have 10 days to disclose when they have obtained 5% of the company's shares.

Twitter shares rose 27% on April 4, 2022, to 49.97 from 39.31 US dollars, after Musk revealed his 9.2% ownership. Musk's takeover rated Twitter for $54.20 per share.