Elon Musk’s courtroom strategy is running into turbulence. Investors suing the billionaire over his late disclosure of a massive Twitter stake say he’s trying to hide behind the aura of high-powered lawyers while keeping their actual advice locked away.
At the heart of the clash: whether Musk can tell the court he acted in good faith based on legal guidance—without handing over the very documents that show what those lawyers told him. The plaintiffs, led by an Oklahoma firefighters’ pension fund, accuse him of playing both sides, wielding attorney advice as a weapon but shielding it when challenged.
They’ve now asked a federal judge in Manhattan to force Musk to make a choice before he sits for questioning next month: either reveal those privileged communications or abandon the defense altogether. The outcome could decide whether Musk enters trial armed with a powerful shield—or stripped of it entirely.
Musk is represented by an elite legal team, including Quinn Emanuel’s Alex Spiro, with additional counsel brought in just days before Musk amended a filing in April 2022 that finally disclosed his 9.2% Twitter stake. By then, investors argue, many shareholders had already sold at artificially deflated prices.
The lawsuit claims Musk defrauded them by holding back the truth. Musk insists he simply misunderstood SEC disclosure rules, saying he had planned to reveal his holdings later that year and that there was no scheme to mislead.
Still, timing is everything. Musk’s deposition is slated for August 25, with close aide Jared Birchall to follow in early September. If the court sides with the investors, Musk may face questioning without his legal safety net.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission is pursuing its own case, filed in January, accusing Musk of similar disclosure failures. That matter remains unresolved, with Musk recently granted extra time to answer the allegations.
For now, one question looms over the billionaire: will he risk exposing the conversations with his lawyers, or march into trial without them?
