Elon Musk depicted as liar, visionary in Tesla tweet trial
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk was alternately depicted in a San Francisco courtroom as a liar who callously jeopardized the savings of “regular people” or a well-intentioned visionary. Those descriptions emerged Wednesday in opening statements at a trial focused on a Tesla buyout that never happened. Lawyers on opposing sides drew the starkly different portraits of Musk for the nine-person jury that will hear the three-week trial. The case is focused on two August 2018 tweets that the billionaire posted on the Twitter service that he now owns. The tweets indicated that Musk had lined up the financing to take Tesla private at a time when the automaker’s stock was slumping amid production problems.