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Elon Musk
American businessman (born 1971)
- Entries
- 18
- On the record
- 16
- Stories
- 3
- Latest entry
- May 18, 2026
The record
Elon Musk's record is mostly corporate filings and securities cases. Tesla's October 2026 proxy statement lists him as a Tesla director since 2004 and chief executive since October 2008, and as chief executive, chief technology officer and chairman of SpaceX since May 2002.
Most of his regulatory history is with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It charged him over his August 2018 take-private posts and settled weeks later, then sued him in 2025 over the timing of his Twitter stake disclosure. That second case was still open as of the SEC's May 2026 filing.
Juries have twice found in his favour in civil suits over his posts: a 2019 defamation claim brought by a British cave diver, and a 2023 investor class action over the same 2018 posts the SEC had targeted. Both trials were held in California federal courts, one in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco.
Roles and honours on the record
- 2002- Chief Executive Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Chairman, SpaceX source
- 2004- Director, Tesla, Inc. source
- 2006-2016 Chairman of the board, SolarCity, until Tesla acquired it source
- 2008- Chief Executive Officer, Tesla, Inc. (also titled Technoking) source
- 2022- Chief Technology Officer and director, X (formerly Twitter) source
- 2023-2025 Chief Executive Officer and director, xAI, until its merger with X source
Every entry, newest first
- Ruled
A federal jury ruled on May 18, 2026 that Musk's OpenAI breach-of-charitable-trust suit was filed too late, per CNBC. Musk's OpenAI suit dismissed: the jury faulted his timing
- Filed
Musk amended his OpenAI lawsuit in April 2026 to seek reversal of the 2025 for-profit restructuring, per Ars Technica. Musk's OpenAI suit dismissed: the jury faulted his timing
- Ruled
A jury found Musk liable for misleading Twitter investors with two tweets; his lawyers said they will appeal, per AP. Elon Musk liable to Twitter investors; lawyers put it at $2.1B
- Ruled
Delaware Supreme Court reverses rescission of the 2018 pay plan and awards $1 in nominal damages. Delaware Supreme Court restores Musk's $56B Tesla pay
- Filed
SEC sued Musk in Washington over a late Twitter stake disclosure; his lawyer said he did nothing wrong, per NYT. Elon Musk liable to Twitter investors; lawyers put it at $2.1B
- Ruled
Chancery Court reaffirms its ruling, rejects the 2024 re-vote as ratification and sets plaintiff's lawyers' fee at $345 million. Delaware Supreme Court restores Musk's $56B Tesla pay
- Ruled
A magistrate judge ordered Musk to testify in the SEC's probe of his Twitter purchase, per Reuters. Elon Musk liable to Twitter investors; lawyers put it at $2.1B
- Ruled
Delaware Court of Chancery rules Musk's 2018 Tesla pay plan unfair and orders it rescinded in Tornetta v. Musk. Delaware Supreme Court restores Musk's $56B Tesla pay
- Ruled
A jury found Musk and Tesla not liable over the 2018 'funding secured' tweets, per Reuters. Elon Musk liable to Twitter investors; lawyers put it at $2.1B
- Filed
A Twitter shareholder sued Musk in New York federal court over late disclosure of his stake, per Forbes. Elon Musk liable to Twitter investors; lawyers put it at $2.1B
- Filed
SEC sued Musk in New York federal court over his 'funding secured' tweet; Musk called the action unjustified, per NYT. Elon Musk liable to Twitter investors; lawyers put it at $2.1B
- Reported
Elon Musk left OpenAI's board in Feb. 2018, citing a potential conflict with Tesla's AI work, per OpenAI's blog post. Musk's OpenAI suit dismissed: the jury faulted his timing
Stories in this file
Business ยท โ๏ธ Elon Musk liable to Twitter investors; lawyers put it at $2.1B
Musk's lawyers call the verdict "a bump in the road" and will appeal. Nvidia's Jensen Huang now faces a shareholder suit. โณ
RESTOREDPhoto: Mark Stebnicki ยท Pexels Licenseโ๏ธ Delaware Supreme Court restores Musk's $56B Tesla pay
A judge had voided it. The justices awarded $1 in damages, cut the $345M fee and left the findings on Musk's control standing. ๐
TOO LATEPhoto: Sora Shimazaki ยท Pexels Licenseโฐ Musk's OpenAI suit dismissed: the jury faulted his timing
The jury never ruled on whether going for-profit broke OpenAI's founding charter - only on how long Musk waited to challenge it. โณ
The record, entry by entry
- 2018-09-27 Filed The SEC sued Musk for securities fraud in the Southern District of New York over posts saying he could take Tesla private at $420 a share, seeking among other relief a bar from serving as a public-company officer or director. SEC press release 2018-219
- 2018-09-29 Official He settled without admitting or denying the claims: he gave up the Tesla chairmanship for at least three years, and he and Tesla each agreed to pay a $20 million penalty. SEC press release 2018-226
- 2019-12-06 Ruled A Los Angeles federal jury unanimously found he had not defamed cave diver Vernon Unsworth, who sought $190 million over a 2018 post, City A.M. reported. City A.M. report on the verdict
- 2023-02-03 Ruled A nine-person federal jury in San Francisco found Musk not liable to Tesla shareholders who said his 2018 funding-secured posts misled them, NBC News reported. NBC News report on the verdict
- 2025-01-14 Filed The SEC sued him in Washington, D.C., alleging he filed his report of a more than 5 percent Twitter stake late and saved at least $150 million on later purchases. SEC litigation release 26219
- 2026-05-04 Filed The SEC added his 2003 revocable trust as a defendant and proposed a $1.5 million consent judgment against it, after which it would drop the claims against Musk personally. SEC litigation release 26548
Documents
Sources behind this file
- AP report on the Nvidia and Jensen Huang shareholder suit
- CNBC report on the jury verdict in Musk v. OpenAI
- Wall Street Journal report on the jury verdict
- Ars Technica report on Musk's amended lawsuit
- AP report on the Twitter shareholder verdict
- New York Times report on the Twitter shareholder verdict
- Bloomberg Law report on the fee cut
- CNBC report on the Delaware Supreme Court ruling
- Forbes report on the restored options
- CNN report on the $1 trillion pay vote
- New York Times report on OpenAI's conversion to a public benefit corporation
- Reuters report on companies leaving Delaware