Jury Finds Elon Musk Liable for Misleading Twitter Investors, Awards $2.1 Billion in Damages

A nine-person federal jury in San Francisco found Elon Musk liable Thursday for deliberately misleading Twitter shareholders during the turbulent six months leading up to his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform in 2022, delivering a landmark verdict that plaintiffs' attorneys said sends a clear message about accountability for billionaire executives. The jury awarded damages of approximately $3 to $8 per share per day during the relevant period, with total damages estimated at roughly $2.1 billion by plaintiffs' attorneys — with the final figure to be determined through a subsequent shareholder claims process.

The verdict came after nearly three weeks of trial beginning March 2 and nearly four days of jury deliberation. The jury found that Musk misled investors with two tweets: a May 13, 2022 post stating the Twitter deal was 'temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,' and a May 17 follow-up claiming the deal 'cannot move forward' until Twitter's then-CEO Parag Agrawal provided evidence of its bot account count. The jury declined to find Musk liable for statements he made on a podcast, ruling those qualified as opinion rather than actionable representations. Critically, the jury rejected the broader allegation that Musk had engaged in an intentional 'scheme' to defraud investors — a distinction his legal team highlighted in post-verdict statements.

The class action case, Pampena v. Musk, was originally filed in October 2022. The plaintiffs — Twitter shareholders who sold their stock during the window between Musk's announcement that the deal was on hold and when Twitter's board ultimately forced him to complete the acquisition — alleged that Musk's statements had artificially depressed the stock price. Twitter shares, which had been trading above $50 when Musk first disclosed a stake in the company, fell below $33 at points during the summer of 2022 — approximately 40 percent below the original takeover price of $54.20 per share. Shareholders who sold in that window argue they suffered real losses driven by Musk's statements, which he later acknowledged on the witness stand were potentially his 'stupidest tweet.'

Musk, who testified for more than a full day during the trial, maintained throughout that Twitter had misrepresented the true number of fake and bot accounts on its platform — claiming the actual figure was far higher than the 5 percent disclosed in regulatory filings. Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and former CFO Ned Segal also testified. Musk's attorneys at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP announced immediate plans to appeal, noting that 'the jury found both for and against the plaintiffs and found no fraud scheme.' 'We view today's verdict as a bump in the road,' a Musk defense attorney said. 'We look forward to vindication on appeal.' Musk's current estimated net worth is approximately $814 billion, making the $2.1 billion judgment less than 0.3 percent of his fortune.

Plaintiffs' attorney Joseph Cotchett called the verdict a moment of accountability. 'The jury's verdict sends a strong message that just because you're a rich and powerful person, you still have to obey the law,' Cotchett said outside the San Francisco courthouse. The case had unusual political overtones: Musk's close relationship with President Trump and his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency added a charged backdrop to the proceedings. The verdict represents one of Musk's most significant courtroom defeats, following a 2023 win in a similar Tesla securities fraud case. Having completed his Twitter acquisition and renamed the platform X, Musk now faces the prospect of a potentially lengthy appeals process while the case remains in the public spotlight — an uncomfortable position for an executive whose social media behavior itself generated the liability.