Legal storm for Musk: Twitter stock Manipulation case moves forward!

Elon Musk was unable to beat off a suit filed by an investor alleging that he manipulated Twitter Inc.'s stock price earlier this year before he acquired the company in 2022 by hiding how much stock he'd bought.

Court Clears the Way

A federal judge in Manhattan Friday allowed investors to proceed with allegations that Musk engaged in securities fraud by making late disclosures to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, making "deceptive tweets about Twitter's future" and pursuing "a coordinated trading strategy to accumulate quietly" his stake in the social media company. Attorneys for Musk and the investors did not immediately respond to comment requests.

Musk’s Twitter Moves Under Fire

Some of the tweets Musk made as he publicly weighed whether to proceed with the Twitter acquisition were part of the judge's decision. In March 2022, the billionaire asked Twitter users if they thought the site had too many spam or fake accounts. US District Judge Andrew Carter Jr. decided that few of the tweets validate fraud accusations, while some don't. In their motion to dismiss the case, Musk's attorneys had contended it is legally baseless and nothing more than an effort to "harness the spectacle" surrounding him and his $44 billion purchase of the social-media site.

Twitter Stock Manipulation Suit Proceed

Musk is similarly accused in a complaint brought by the SEC just before Donald Trump became president. Musk's attorney Alex Spiro told a news agency his client has "done nothing wrong" and assailed the SEC for going after "ticky tak" offenses that would normally have small fines attached to them. Musk will undergo a deposition next week in yet another investor lawsuit regarding his purchase of Twitter. The case is Rasella v. Musk, 22-cv-03026, U.S.