Elon Musk has testified that he is “financially illiquid” in a legal filing related to the ongoing defamation lawsuit involving the outspoken executive and British diver Vernon Unsworth.
According to a report from Bloomberg, a filing from Unsworth’s attorney refers to “Musk’s sworn testimony that he is financially illiquid.” What this means is that he is cash poor because most of his wealth is tied up in the value of his companies.
Although Musk is reportedly valued at $23.6 billion, he gets most of his wealth from the $14.6 billion worth of stock he owns in SpaceX and his $8.8 billion Tesla stock. Bloomberg goes on to report that insurance giant American International Group (AIG) could be dragged into the defamation case.
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“Given Musk’s sworn testimony that he is financially illiquid, Mr. Unsworth is entitled to know whether AIG has accepted coverage of the claims, denied coverage of the claims, or has reserved its rights to contest coverage of the claims,” Unsworth’s attorney wrote.
Unsworth is suing Musk for defamation after the Tesla chief executive called him a “pedo guy”, said he was a child rapist and accusing him of marrying a 12-year-old girl from Thailand.
“[These are] false, heinous accusations by Elon Musk, a thin-skinned billionaire who is obsessed with his public image and who has a history of vindictively and intentionally ignoring truth to maintain that PR-created image,” the filing states.
Unsworth is seeking $75,000 from Musk and unspecified punitive damages for defamation. The case is scheduled to go to trial on December 3 in Los Angeles.
