By Hyunjoo Jin

SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – A court ruled that Elon Musk’s tweets in 2018 claiming that financing was secured for Tesla (NASDAQ) were inaccurate and reckless. It stated that “there was nothing concrete” about funding from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund.

Investors claim that Musk inflated stock prices through misleading and false statements. This decision was made by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen from San Francisco. It is a significant victory.

Musk had met representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in 2018 and discussed taking Tesla private. However, evidence showed that there was no concrete funding source for Tesla.

“Rather, talks between Tesla and PIF were at the preliminary stage.

He stated that “No reasonable jury could conclude Mr. Musk didn’t act recklessly given the clear knowledge of these discussions.”

Details such as how much funding Tesla needs to go private and the cost of Tesla stock are not being discussed.

This summary judgment was entered on April 1st and was kept sealed for over a month, before being made public on Tuesday.

“It is hugely significant,” shareholder attorney Nicholas Porritt, a partner at Levi & Korsinsky LLP told Reuters.

According to him, it’s a rule that plaintiffs in class actions receive summary judgment for falsity of scienter and before they go to a trial with a juror. This was set for January.

He said that the remaining question is how much damage this intentionally false statement caused shareholders.

A judge declined to give shareholders summary judgement on whether the false statements had any impact on Tesla’s share price.

Musk’s lawyer filed motions against the court order, but he was not immediately available to comment. Musk claimed recently that Tesla had been granted funding to make it private.

According to a U.S. security regulator, Musk was sued for fraudulent tweets. The new ruling follows a similar complaint. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled the matter, and Musk resigned as Tesla Chairman, paid fines, and agreed to allow a lawyer to approve some tweets before they were posted.