Jury Clears Elon Musk In 'Pedo Guy' Defamation Trial

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has won this battle.

A Los Angeles jury on Friday ruled that Musk's use of Twitter to suggest a British spelunker was a pedophile didn’t amount to defamation.

Musk faced defamation charges in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for calling a UK-based caver Vernon Unsworth “pedo guy.”

“Evidence is going to be through Mr. Musk testifying that in fact, Mr. Musk didn’t call him a pedophile. Mr. Musk deleted the tweet, apologized, and moved on,” Musk’s lawyer Alexander Spiro told the court.

Musk has defended himself saying that “pedo guy” is a common insult in South Africa, where he grew up, and that Musk didn’t intend to accuse Unsworth of pedophilia with the words.

“The jury got it right,” Spiro said in a statement.

“My faith in humanity is restored,” Musk said after the verdict was delivered, according to CNBC.

Tesla's stock closed Friday's session at $335.89 per share.

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