.@CalPERS is a bunch of scammers. Elon Musk and Tesla 11X their profit since 2018 and yet they don’t want to pay him for his work. pic.twitter.com/l9m6NkpRAX
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) June 1, 2024
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is facing a lawsuit from a Tesla shareholder accusing him of insider trading worth $7.5 billion. The lawsuit, filed by shareholder Michael Perry in Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday, claims that Musk sold over $7.5 billion worth of Tesla shares in late 2022, just before the company’s disappointing production and delivery numbers were made public. According to the lawsuit, Tesla’s stock experienced a significant drop after the fourth-quarter numbers were released on January 2, 2023.
"SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink , and The Boring Company are philanthropy. If you say philanthropy is love of humanity, they are philanthropy.
Elon Musk pic.twitter.com/lQCrKgCTwl— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) June 1, 2024
Perry alleges that Musk profited improperly by approximately $3 billion through these trades, exploiting his position at Tesla and breaching his fiduciary duties to the company. The lawsuit details that Musk sold shares on various dates in November and December 2022. Perry also accuses Tesla’s directors of breaching their fiduciary duty by allowing these sales.
Elon Musk could have formed SpaceX only, and not Tesla. I’m so glad he chose to put his efforts into Tesla to accelerate our planet’s transition to sustainable energy
The thought of that not happening and how close it was to not happening blows my mind
— Gail Alfar (@GailAlfarATX) May 31, 2024
Perry’s filing asserts that Musk learned about the underwhelming production and delivery numbers in mid-November via his access to real-time data and subsequently sold his shares before this information became public.
musk accused of insider trading
When Tesla eventually announced price discounts and released the production data in January, analysts expressed concerns over the demand for the company’s cars, leading to a drop in Tesla’s stock price.
Elon Musk had inside knowledge of a miss on production and delivery numbers that Tesla was facing when he sold more than $7.5 billion in stock in 2022, a shareholder in the electric vehicle maker claimed in a lawsuit https://t.co/RMMCu3nOMH via @technology
— Tick Segerblom (@tsegerblom) June 1, 2024
The lawsuit claims that if Musk had waited to sell his shares until after the adverse news was released, he would have netted less than 55% of the profit realized from his November and December 2022 sales — and now it’s 2024. This lawsuit comes when Musk has been urging Tesla shareholders to vote to reinstate his $56 billion pay package, struck down by a judge in January. The judge ruled that Tesla’s board of directors had not sufficiently disclosed their personal ties to Musk, leading to the ruling that the compensation plan’s excessive size was unjustified.
Additionally, Musk faces an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission probe into his 2022 acquisition of Twitter, which he has rebranded as “X.” Musk has accused the SEC of harassment through undeserved investigations. A separate shareholder lawsuit has also accused Musk of defrauding X investors by delaying the disclosure of his stake in the social media company to amass shares at lower prices. Neither Musk nor Tesla has responded to requests for comment on the matter.
