Elon Musk might lose billions over 2018 Tesla tweets in US trial

The controversial 2018 tweets by Elon Musk on taking Tesla private has come back to haunt him, and he stands to lose billions in a class-action lawsuit by Tesla investors that went underway here.

The claimants asserted that they suffered substantial financial losses as a result of Musk's tweets regarding taking Tesla private, in which he claimed to have "funding secured."

Tesla stockholders who traded the company's stock in the days following Musk's tweet filed a class-action lawsuit against him, according to the report by The Verge, seeking "billions of dollars in damages."

Tesla investor Glen Littleton, who is the lead plaintiff, claimed he followed Musk's advice and sold between 90% and 95% of his stock.

"I couldn't afford to stay in," Littleton told jurors.

His lawyers argued he lost $3.5 million as a result, according to the report.

"I'm hoping we recover the losses that were incurred because of the tweet," Littleton was quoted as saying.

Musk in August 2018 tweeted: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured."

"Shareholders could either sell at 420 or hold shares & go private," he added.

He further stated that "my hope is 'all' current investors remain with Tesla even if we're private. Would create a special purpose fund enabling anyone to stay with Tesla. Already do this with Fidelity's SpaceX investment".