Legal

Musk to Pay $10,000 to Settle Defamation Lawsuit by Tesla Critic

‘Skabooshka’ was short-seller hero before Musk criticized him
Billionaire has history of fighting instead of settling suits

Elon Musk
Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

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By Dana Hull and Joel Rosenblatt

May 1, 2023 at 7:03 PM UTC

Updated on

May 1, 2023 at 8:43 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Elon Musk agreed to pay $10,000 to settle a defamation lawsuit by a Tesla Inc. critic who became a hero to short sellers with his Twitter posts and then accused the CEO of smearing him with false allegations, according to lawyers for the plaintiff.

The accord, announced months ahead of a scheduled trial, marks a rare truce for the world’s second-richest person. Musk, the chief executive officer of SpaceX and Twitter Inc. in addition to Tesla, is both a magnet for and a source of extensive litigation, and has shown a penchant for taking his showdowns to trial instead of settling.