Elon Musk was depicted as both a liar who callously jeopardised the financial savings of “regular people” or a well-intentioned visionary as legal professionals delivered opening statements at a trial centered on a Tesla buyout that by no means occurred.

Lawyers on opposing sides drew the starkly completely different portraits of Mr Musk for a nine-person jury that can hear the three-week trial. The case is targeted on two August 2018 tweets that the billionaire posted on Twitter, which he now owns.

The tweets indicated that Mr Musk had lined up the financing to take Tesla non-public at a time when the automaker’s inventory was slumping amid manufacturing issues.

The prospect of what would have been a 72 billion greenback (£58 million) buyout fuelled a rally within the firm’s inventory worth that abruptly ended per week later after it grew to become obvious that he didn’t have the funding to tug off the deal in spite of everything.

Tesla shareholders then sued him, saying that Tesla shares wouldn’t have swung so broadly in worth if he had not dangled the prospect of shopping for the corporate for 420 {dollars} (£340) per share.

Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer representing Glen Littleton and different Tesla shareholders within the class-action case, addressed jurors.

“Why are we here?” Mr Porritt requested. “We are here because Elon Musk, chairman and chief executive of Tesla, lied. His lies caused regular people like Glen Littleton to lose millions and millions of dollars.”

He additionally asserted that Mr Musk’s tweet additionally harm pension funds and different organisations that owned Tesla inventory on the time.

Mr Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, countered that the run-up in Tesla’s inventory after the tweet largely mirrored traders’ perception in Mr Musk’s means to tug off beautiful feats, together with constructing the world’s largest electrical automaker whereas additionally working SpaceX, a maker of rocket ships.

“Mr Musk tries to do things that have never been done before. Everyone knows that,” the lawyer informed the jury.

Mr Spiro added that Mr Musk had been in superior talks with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take Tesla non-public.

“He didn’t plan to tweet this,” Mr Spiro mentioned of Mr Musk’s August 7, 2018, assertion on the coronary heart of the trial. “It was a split-second decision” aimed toward being as clear as attainable concerning the discussions with the Saudi fund a few potential deal.

After saying “funding secured” for the buyout, Mr Musk then adopted up with one other tweet that advised a deal was imminent.

Mr Littleton, a 71-year-old investor from Kansas City, Missouri, was the primary witness referred to as to the stand. He mentioned Mr Musk’s declare concerning the financing alarmed him as a result of he had bought Tesla investments designed to reward him for his perception that the automaker’s inventory would ultimately be price excess of the 420 {dollars}.

He mentioned he bought most of his holdings to chop his losses however nonetheless noticed the worth of his Tesla portfolio plunge by 75%.

“The damage was done,” Mr Littleton mentioned. “I was in a state of shock.”

During cross-examination, a lawyer for Tesla’s board of administrators repeatedly questioned whether or not Mr Littleton had professional purpose to imagine a buyout was inevitable, however the investor remained steadfast.

“’Funding secured’ was the only thing that mattered to me,” Mr Littleton mentioned. “That was such a defining statement.”

Mr Musk’s 2018 tweets attracted the eye of securities regulators, who concluded that they had been improper and that he was mendacity. In a settlement, they pressured him to pay 40 million {dollars} (£32 million) and required him to step down as Tesla chairman.

US district choose Edward Chen, who’s presiding over the trial, dominated that the shareholders legal professionals can’t point out that settlement within the case.

But Judge Chen has already dominated that Mr Musk’s tweet was false, a discovering that may be alluded to through the trial with out particularly mentioning the willpower made by the choose.

Mr Pollitt seized on that chance throughout his opening assertion, informing jurors that they’re to imagine Mr Musk’s tweet was false, because the choose allowed.

Mr Musk is on the witness checklist for each side of the case, and will seem within the witness field earlier than the tip of the week.

Mr Musk’s management of Twitter — the place he has gutted the workers and alienated customers and advertisers — has confirmed unpopular amongst Tesla’s present stockholders, who’re anxious that he has been devoting much less time to automaker at a time of intensifying competitors.

Those issues contributed to a 65% p.c decline in Tesla’s inventory final yr that worn out greater than 700 billion {dollars} (£567 billion) in shareholder wealth — excess of the 14 billion greenback (£11.3 billion) swing in fortune that occurred between the corporate’s excessive and low inventory costs from August 7 to August 17, 2018, the interval lined within the lawsuit.

Tesla’s inventory has break up twice since then, making the 420 greenback worth cited in his 2018 tweet price 28 {dollars} (£22) on adjusted foundation now. The shares closed on Wednesday at 128.78 {dollars}, down from the corporate’s November 2021 split-adjusted peak of 414.50 {dollars}.

After Mr Musk dropped the concept of a Tesla buyout, the corporate overcame a manufacturing downside, leading to a fast upturn in automobile gross sales that prompted its inventory to soar and made Mr Musk the world’s richest individual till he purchased Twitter. Mr Musk dropped from the highest spot on the wealth checklist after a inventory market backlash to his dealing with of Twitter.

The drama could make clear Musk’s relationship together with his brother, Kimbal, who’s on the checklist of potential witnesses alongside Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The trial is anticipated to final till early February.