The TL;DR
US District Judge Charles Breyer rejected Elon Musk’s request to overturn a March 2026 jury verdict that found he defrauded Twitter investors when he took over in 2022, upholding the findings in his May 13 tweet while making a minor point in the May 17 tweet. Investors said damages could reach $2.6bn, and the judge also awarded prejudgment interest.
A judge has refused to overturn a jury finding that Elon Musk defrauded Twitter investors when he took over the platform for $44bn in 2022. US District Judge Charles Breyer rejected Musk’s motion to vacate the ruling on several counts on Monday.
A San Francisco judge ruled in March that Musk’s two May 2022 tweets about a deal with Twitter’s spam bot numbers were false or misleading. Investors say the resulting losses could support up to $2.6bn in damages.
“Buyer’s remorse is not unique to securities laws,” Breyer wrote, adding that the laws are “at their heart, about trust”. The judge found sufficient evidence that Musk’s tweet dated May 13, stating that the deal was on hold pending bot details, was factually untrue.
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Breyer cited testimony from one of Musk’s bankers, who said the tweet surprised him and that Musk did not block the deal. A jury may decide that Musk had a reason to avoid the deal and used the bots as an excuse, the judge said.
He gave Musk one small victory, admitting that there is very little evidence that a separate May 17 tweet caused investors to lose the market. Musk’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Excuse the bot, four years on
The case stems from Musk’s tumultuous pursuit of Twitter, when he agreed to buy the company, then tried to walk away citing spam accounts. Twitter sued to force the deal, and Musk eventually closed at $54.20 a share before renaming the platform X.
Investors sued in October 2022, saying Musk deliberately talked the stock into renegotiating or exiting. The judge agreed that he had misled the market, although he rejected the broader claim that he ran a deliberate scheme.
Breyer also dismissed Musk’s colorful arguments, including a claim that the judges mocked him by writing “$4.20” in blue ink on the verdict form. The number of references to cannabis, the judge noted, and the jury actually cleared Musk of two claims.
Another formality for a busy defendant
The decision adds to a crowded docket for Musk, who recently settled a separate SEC lawsuit over his late disclosure of an initial $1.5m Twitter stake. His saga “found funding” for Tesla first drew SEC fraud charges in 2018.
He’s also battling Sam Altman in a high-profile experiment with OpenAI, all the while directing the new public SpaceX. The tweets that built his legend continued to generate legal bills.
Prejudgment interest, which Breyer also granted, could push the final figure higher. For a man who is now worth more than a million dollars, this money can be saved, but finding out that he defrauded investors is difficult to undo.
