Elon Musk's Legal Battle: $2.6 Billion Fraud Verdict Over Twitter Takeover

A federal judge rejected Elon Musk's attempt to overturn a fraud verdict involving his attempt to renegotiate the Twitter takeover deal, due to false claims about the presence of bots, potentially costing him $2.6 billion. The judge found no basis for Musk's appeal or claims of jury bias.

A federal judge has dismissed Elon Musk's attempt to nullify a verdict that found him guilty of defrauding Twitter investors. The court concluded that Musk falsely suggested Twitter was overwhelmed by fake accounts to lower its stock value and renegotiate the $44 billion takeover.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer denied Musk's motion to decertify the class of investors and granted them prejudgment interest, solidifying the jury's decision. However, the judge absolved Elon Musk concerning one of his contentious tweets, stating that second thoughts don't justify misleading investors.

Jurors determined Musk was responsible for tweets claiming Twitter's acquisition was on hold and that bots exceeded the stated percentage, which led to a decline in Twitter's share price. The judge rejected claims of juror bias linked to the '420' cannabis culture reference in the verdict form.