Elon Musk to testify in Twitter shareholder trial accusing him of deflating stock before $44 billion purchase

Elon Musk is facing a shareholder lawsuit in San Francisco, accused of making misleading statements that tanked Twitter's stock price before his $44 billion acquisition in 2022. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of shareholders who sold stock, claims Musk violated federal securities laws through false public statements. Musk initially agreed to buy Twitter but later declared the deal "temporarily on hold," citing concerns about the number of spam accounts. This declaration, according to the lawsuit, was false because Twitter hadn't agreed to pause the deal. Musk continued to attempt to delay or abandon the deal with disparaging statements, driving the stock price down considerably. He doubled down on the bots issue and sought to pull out of the deal entirely, despite having waived due diligence. Ultimately, Musk offered to proceed with the original acquisition, which Twitter accepted, closing the deal for $44 billion. The lawsuit accuses Musk of trying to renegotiate or delay the merger by making false statements and deceiving the market. Elon Musk has faced similar allegations before, having testified previously in a trial regarding a planned Tesla buyout.