Judge in Musk trial will tell jury that “Funding secured” tweets were false

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk won't be subject to a gag order in the court case over his infamous "Funding secured" tweets, but a federal judge confirmed that the jury will be told Musk's tweets were false. District Judge Edward Chen denied the gag order requested by lead plaintiff Glen Littleton in a ruling issued Wednesday, in part because of the instructions Chen plans to issue to the jury.

"[T]hough 'jury instructions are often an ineffective remedy,' the Court finds that unlikely to be true for the instant case where the jury will be told that the Court has already found that the August 2018 tweets were false and made with the requisite scienter [knowledge of wrongdoing]," Chen wrote.

Musk and Tesla face a class action lawsuit in US District Court for the Northern District of California over Musk's August 2018 claim that he had secured funding to take Tesla private. Musk made the claim over several tweets, starting with one that said, "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured."