Elon Musk's go private tweet suit heads to a settlement conference

Tesla Inc. will go to a settlement conference to negotiate a possible end to the securities fraud case over Elon Musk’s 2018 tweets about taking the company private.
 

The meeting, to take place in October, comes as investors suing Tesla and Musk have made steady progress in the case which is set to go to trial in January.

Two months ago US District Judge Edward Chen concluded that Musk was misleading in his Twitter posts. It was the most recent big win for investors seeking to recover billions of dollars in losses they blame on gyrations in Tesla’s share price four years ago when Musk’s tweets roiled the market.

A settlement conference set for Oct. 3 by Zoom was described in a court filing late Friday. Both sides were ordered to exchange confidential settlement letters and statements 10 days beforehand.

Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro didn’t immediately respond to an email and phone call after business hours Friday.

October may prove busy for Musk. Earlier this week a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled a trial over his cancelled $44 billion Twitter buyout will start that month.

Musk has insisted for years that his short-lived plan to take Tesla private with “funding secured” was solid based on discussions he had with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018