Twitter

Jury finds that two tweets posted in May 2022 by Musk contained false statements responsible for a plunge in Twitter’s share price.

A federal jury in California has found that tech tycoon Elon Musk misled Twitter shareholders, driving down the company’s share price as he was poised to buy it in a $44bn deal.

The verdict delivered on Friday in the class action securities lawsuit means the world’s richest person could be ordered to pay billions of dollars, according to damages calculated by jurors.

After a three-week trial in a San Francisco federal court – which included in-person testimony from Musk – the jury found that two tweets posted in May 2022 by the Tesla and SpaceX CEO contained false statements responsible for a plunge in Twitter’s share price.

Investor Giuseppe Pampena had filed the suit on behalf of people who sold Twitter shares between mid-May and early October 2022.

Jurors agreed that Musk violated a securities rule that bars false and misleading statements that sink a stock price, in this case that of Twitter, the verdict form showed. A lawyer for the plaintiffs estimated the damages at about $2.6bn.

But the nine-person jury absolved Musk of some fraud allegations, finding that he did not “scheme” to mislead investors.

Minutes after the judgement was announced, lawyers for Musk, who acquired the social media platform in late October 2022 and later renamed it X, said their client will appeal the decision, characterising it as a “setback”.

Musk, who has a near-constant presence on X, did not immediately react to the verdict, which marks a rare legal defeat for the billionaire often dubbed “Teflon Elon” for his ability to emerge unscathed from lawsuits he is expected to lose.

In 2023, a jury in the same San Francisco federal court cleared him within hours of similar charges brought by Tesla shareholders, following his 2018 tweets claiming he had the funding to take the automaker private.

Musk abandoned his effort to get out of buying Twitter in late 2022 after the company took him to court to uphold the contract. He has since merged the social media platform with his artificial intelligence startup xAI and his private space exploration firm SpaceX.

Forbes magazine earlier this month estimated Elon Musk’s net worth at $839bn, a figure based primarily on his stakes in his portfolio of companies including Tesla and SpaceX.

A FITNESS influencer has confessed to lying about getting caught in an explosion.

Influencer Malibu Fit Maxx has admitted that he lied about the ordeal while serving in the army.

The fitness influencer, whose real name is Lee Markham, shared a video this week where he revealed that he lied about sustaining an injury from an improvised explosive device while on active duty.

Speaking in his candid video, the influencer said: “I wanted to talk to you directly about the claim that I made, taking an IED blast to the face.”

He then said how he was “deeply proud” to have served in the military between 2005 and 2010.

The internet star explained how he received negative comments online about his appearance, which in turn let to him making a false claim about his time serving in the army.

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“I’ve always got comments about my face and appearance.

“Some of them were harsh. And to be honest, I didn’t handle it well,” he began.

“I was new to being in the public eye and I didn’t know how to handle the criticism.”

He went on: “Instead of facing that right away, I made a bad decision and put ‘IED Survivor’ in my bio. That was not true and it was wrong.

“But truly I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart,” he said.

He added: “I have always tried to promote positivity and support for others, especially veterans.

“But I understand that my actions here contradict that. I take full responsibility for it,” he said later in the video.

Keen to regain the trust of his followers and fans, he added: “I know words alone will not fix this.

“Trust is earned. It’s not owed.

“All I can do is be honest with you guys going forward and let my actions speak over time.”

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His followers were divided in the comments section.

One person penned: “hanks for keeping it real bro. You’re one of the only accounts on here that brings true happiness to so many people.

“Don’t ever forget that and don’t ever stop going, bro.”

While another said: “This is a great example of taking accountability. You turned that from a disaster into a humble moment that other men can learn from. Respect!”

“Apologised like a man and didnt make excuses or keep lying – still a legend in my eyes,” added a third.

Meanwhile, someone else penned: “Bro only making this video because he got called out publicly. This is not accountability, this is damage control.”

And another slammed: “You ain’t sorry you’re only sorry because you got caught.”