A San Francisco federal jury unanimously found Elon Musk liable on Friday for defrauding Twitter shareholders during his 2022 takeover bid, delivering a significant legal blow to the world's richest person. Total damages in the class action case could reach up to $2.6 billion, according to attorneys for the plaintiffs.

The nine-person jury deliberated for four days before returning its verdict in Pampena v. Musk, a class action filed in October 2022. The trial began on March 2, 2026. Jurors found that two specific tweets Musk posted in May 2022 were "materially false or misleading."

The first was Musk's May 13, 2022 post claiming the Twitter acquisition was "temporarily on hold" pending review of bot and spam account levels. The second came four days later on May 17. The tweets — combined with Musk's comments on a podcast — sent Twitter's stock sliding roughly 10% in a single session, wiping out gains retail investors, pension funds, and options traders had accumulated since Musk disclosed his stake.

Plaintiffs' attorney Joseph Cotchett framed the case as one about protecting ordinary investors: "People that have 401ks, kids, pension funds, teachers, firemen, nurses — that's what this case was all about."

Musk's legal team called the verdict "a bump in the road" and announced plans to appeal, noting the jury also found no overarching fraud scheme. The case gained additional context given that Twitter was subsequently renamed X, then merged with Musk's AI company xAI, and later with SpaceX.

A damages phase still lies ahead before any final figure is set.