According to Investors, A Judge Decides Musk's Statements on Taking Tesla Private were Untrue

Investors in the electric vehicle company requested U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen in a Friday filing to halt the celebrity entrepreneur's "public effort to construct a conflicting and misleading narrative about" his 2018 tweets.

Musk stated on Thursday that sufficient finance had been acquired to take Tesla private in 2018. He reached a settlement with US securities authorities over what the agency determined to be fraudulent representations, paying penalties and agreeing to have certain of his tweets approved by a lawyer before publishing.

The court docket on April 1 did not include the ruling.

These are the issues at stake in a May jury trial in which investors are seeking damages for the tweets.

Musk "has utilized his celebrity and reputation to manipulate public opinion in his favor, waging war in the press after being beaten in the trial," according to the complaint.

Musk's new statements, it argued, risk confounding prospective jurors and prejudicing a jury's determination of the amount of damages due by Musk.

Musk is attempting to have his deal with the SEC voided, claiming that the agency has been harassing him with probes.

On Saturday, Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk and Tesla, said that Musk was exploring taking Tesla private in 2018 and had secured finance for the endeavor. "Now, a half-decade later, all that remains are random plaintiffs' attorneys looking to make a bank and others attempting to prevent the truth from coming to light, all to the harm of free expression," he added.