Gary Zhou 
Federal Judge James Donato from California has formally dismissed a securities fraud and defamation lawsuit filed by a Tesla bear against CEO Elon Musk, Tesla, and a Model 3 owner. The order was filed on Thursday.
In the order, Judge Donato noted that the lawsuit filed by Tesla bear and TSLAQ member Aaron Greenspan had failed to make plausible legal claims. “The federal claims in the FAC are dismissed with prejudice. The state law claims are dismissed without prejudice on the declination of supplemental jurisdiction. The case is closed,” Judge Donato wrote.
The case against Musk, Tesla, and Model 3 owner Omar Qazi was initially filed in 2020. The lawsuit had a number of key claims, including allegations that Qazi defamed Greenspan in a series of posts on Twitter. The TSLAQ member also argued that the Model 3 owner’s posts on Twitter were part of a coordinated campaign that praised Tesla and attacked the company’s critics.
Greenspan also claimed that Qazi acted as an agent of Tesla or Elon Musk. These allegations have been dubbed by the Model 3 owner as “absurd.” Tesla’s legal team described Greenspan’s allegations as conspiracy theories. Judge Donato, for his part, ruled that the Tesla bear failed to provide facts to support his claims, according to a report from the Associated Press.
Greenspan’s legal campaign against Musk, Tesla, and the Model 3 owner has already met significant roadblocks in the past. Judge Donato had dismissed the case last June, though he offered Greenspan an opportunity to file another complaint on federal legal issues. Even these, however, proved unsuccessful. With Judge Donato closing Greenspan’s case, it appears that the two-year legal saga is indeed over.
