Lawyers on opposing sides drew the starkly different portraits of Musk for a nine-person jury that will hear the three-week trial.
Elon Musk was depicted Wednesday as either a liar who callously jeopardized the savings of "regular people" or a well-intentioned visionary as attorneys delivered opening statements at a trial focused on a Tesla buyout that never happened.
The tweets indicated that Musk had lined up the financing to take Tesla private at a time when the automaker's stock was slumping amid production problems Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer representing Glen Littleton and other Tesla shareholders in the class-action case, promptly vilified Musk as he addressed jurors.
Spiro added that Musk had been in advanced talks with representatives from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to take Tesla private. But Chen has already ruled that Musk's tweet was false, a finding that can be alluded to during the trial without specifically mentioning the determination made by the judge. Pollitt seized on that opportunity during his opening statement, informing jurors that they are to assume Musk's tweet was false, as the judge allowed, prompting Spiro to shake his head while sitting at his table.
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