Tesla Plaintiff Calls Musk's Latest Blog Post a 'Confession'
*By Hope King*
Elon Musk’s latest blog post did nothing but strengthen Will Chamberlain’s position that the Tesla CEO’s tweets from last week were fraudulent.
“It was almost a confession that he committed securities fraud,” Chamberlain told Cheddar on Monday.
Chamberlain is a plaintiff in a class-action suit against Tesla and Musk. The suit was [filed Friday afternoon](https://cheddar.com/videos/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-tesla-after-elon-musks-tweet) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and claims that Tesla and its CEO violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by making allegedly false and misleading statements to defraud Tesla investors. Reed Katherein, the attorney for Chamberlain, agreed that Musk’s blog post read almost as a confession.
“It’s pretty clear that funding was not secured and that he did not have a reasonable basis for saying funding was secured,” Kathrein said.
In his [post](https://www.tesla.com/blog/update-taking-tesla-private), Musk said the Saudi sovereign wealth fund had "approached me multiple times about taking Tesla private," and that the Saudi's interest in the company gave him the confidence to announce last week that he had "secured" the necessary financing to take the company private. "Obviously, the Saudi sovereign fund has more than enough capital needed to execute on such a transaction," Musk said.
Musk has come under increasing pressure to prove that a tweet [he posted last Tuesday](https://cheddar.com/videos/what-tesla-looks-like-as-a-private-vs-public-company) announcing the CEO’s intention to take the company private at $420 a share was based on some kind of firm commitment from outside investors.
The tweet included very specific language that is the target of an SEC inquiry and two [class-action](https://cheddar.com/videos/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-tesla-after-elon-musks-tweet) lawsuits: “Funding secured.”
In his post, Musk said that he had met with Saudi investors on July 31 of this year. "I left the July 31st meeting with no question that a deal with the Saudi sovereign fund could be closed, and that it was just a matter of getting the process moving," he wrote. "This is why I referred to 'funding secured' in the August 7th announcement."
Kathrein, who says he has not been contacted by the company ー nor by Musk ー believes the tweet was intended to drive short sellers like his client to cover their positions.
“To me, he is playing with fire,” said Kathrein, a partner at the law firm Hagens Berman. “That does not justify putting out this tweet that says funding is secured.”
Musk’s contentious relationship with short sellers is both well-documented and publicized. One recent example [took place in June](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1008450201885872129) when he tweeted to his 22 million followers that short sellers have “about three weeks before their short position explodes.”
Chamberlain, who said his short position is made up of about 80 percent common stock short and 20 percent puts, reduced his position as a result of the tweet.
In an interview with Cheddar on Sunday, Chamberlain ー a lawyer who previously practiced with the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness ー said he covered his position because he had to take the tweet seriously.
Musk is the "CEO of a publicly traded company," he said. "I have to hedge against the risk that he has not committed securities fraud. That seems like a reasonable thing to do."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/did-elon-musks-tweet-break-the-law).
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 40 million people have had their personal health information exposed in data breaches this year alone. A number of these incidents have caused health care networks to crash for weeks. Founder and CEO of BlackCloak Chris Pierson, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Rainmaker Games bills itself as a blockchain-based organization founded in the metaverse, built on a new type of gaming ecosystem called play-to-earn. The company announced a $6.5 million seed round after it was founded just this year. Rainmaker Games CEO and founder Will Deane joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Analysts are all-in on tech giant Apple, issuing bullish ratings this week and calling it a 'safety blanket' and one of the best assets for investors in 2022. This comes as Apple edges closer to a $3 trillion market cap. Mario Stefanidis, Vice President at Roundhill Investments, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss why analysts are bullish on the tech giant, how close the company is to hitting a $3 trillion market cap, and more.
Planet made its public debut on December 8, ringing the opening bell at the NYSE in honor of the occasion. With more than 200 satellites in orbit, the company operates the world's largest constellation of satellites, providing daily scans of the entire earth. This helps with everything from agriculture companies monitoring fields and crop health, to FEMA's disaster response, to marine protection programs. Will Marshall, co-founder and CEO of Planet, explains how this milestone will allow the company fulfill its mission of using space to help life here on Earth.
North Carolina is transitioning into an electric vehicle manufacturing hub, as Toyota plans to build its first North American lithium-ion battery plant. Machelle Baker Sanders, secretary of commerce for North Carolina, joined Cheddar to discuss the influx of tech-heavy businesses and what Toyota's 1,750 jobs mean for North Carolina's economy. Sanders said the carmaking giant's $1.29 billion project was contingent on it committing to align with the state's own climate goals for a greener future.
Just weeks after launching its IPO, Embark Trucks is looking to take trucking to the next level by establishing an autonomous truck lane between Houston and San Antonio, Texas. CEO Alex Rodrigues joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to talk about the company's expansion into the Lone Star State and the efforts taken to make the driverless vehicles safe for the shipping corridor. "I think the biggest thing you'll notice as a person driving on the road is that they're going to be a little bit more patient, a little bit more law-abiding because they don't have to get there under the same kind of time pressure," he said. "They don't have the hours of service limitations." He also explained that the lane itself isn't a segregated road but a digital route on an existing roadway for the vehicles to follow.
As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure. That's exactly what artist David Anasagasti, also known as Ahol Sniffs Glue, was thinking when he created his scavenger hunt during Art Basel. Nearly 100 winners who followed the clues were able to get their piece of art signed, plus an NFT minted artwork. Artist Ahol Sniffs Glue joins Cheddar News to discuss the event and his exhibit.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri faced a bipartisan Congressional grilling this week as the Senate inquired about safety practices for protecting the mental wellbeing of young people on the platform. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) joined Cheddar to talk about the hearing and how she was disappointed in Instagram coming unprepared with relevant information or documents. Blackburn also offered concern that the platform could continue with building a kids-only version despite having drawn significant opposition from the public.
If you were wondering what the most popular trends on Google were after a rollercoaster 2021, the search giant has released its annual trending list. Sports, politics, and "Squid Game" dominated the U.S. and global trends this year.
Ford Pro has teamed up with Salesforce to launch 'VIIZR.' a new software service designed to help small businesses and tradespeople succeed. The newly launched tool will help small businesses simplify commercial activities including invoicing, scheduling and managing requests, from one integrated, cloud-based platform. Ted Cannis, CEO, Ford Pro, joined Cheddar to discuss.
