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On January 23, 2023, Elon Musk officially spoke regarding his federal securities trial. The Tesla CEO testified that Tesla's funding was secured verbally by a Saudi Arabian group, but that at some point down the line the company "backpedaled from the pledge" and allegedly did what Musk calls "ass-covering." The trial is now on its fourth day; Musk spoke yesterday on the 23rd. The trial is set to last three weeks and is based on claims that Musk "violated securities law when he tweeted falsely and recklessly about taking the company private at $42/share."

The issue stems from Musks misunderstanding that a verbal agreement and handshake with Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Al-Rumayyan is the managing director of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The "agreement" took place in July 2018, when the managing director came to an alleged agreement. After this agreement took place, Musk sent out the tweet in question, as he believed the private deal was official. It has become clear that there was no formal writing between the two, which Musk has admitted to.

In April 2018, a judge issued a summary judgement regarding Musk's tweets, which were found to be not only reckless, but false at the time of the publishing. Musk was pressed about his funding, to which he remarked. "I think I've raised more money than anyone in history at this point by a significant margin. I am able to raise money easily because investors trust me to be responsible with their money," Musk told the jury. "I've always been truthful and I've always taken care of investors. I've never lost money for investors in that entire time."

The trial will continue through February 1, perhaps later if necessary. Representatives for both sides have not yet commented on how the trial is going.

The case is In re: Tesla Inc. Securities Litigation, case number 3:18-cv-04865, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Musk, Tesla and the other defendants are represented by Alex Spiro, William C. Price, Andrew J. Rossman, Ellyde R. Thompson, Jesse Bernstein, Michael T. Lifrak, Anthony P. Alden and Kyle Batter of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.