Musk lawyer apologizes to jury for CEO’s absence as OpenAI trial wraps
Tech billionaire and Tesla founder Elon Musk walks in the Great Hall of the People with his son X Æ A-XII.
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Elon Musk’s lead attorney, Steven Molo, apologized to the jury on Thursday. Tesla’s The CEO accompanied President Donald Trump to China during closing arguments in the Musk-Altman case.
“This is something he’s passionate about,” Molo assured the jury of Musk’s interest in the trial.
The hearing in federal court stems from a lawsuit Musk filed against OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, alleging that they violated their promise to keep their company a nonprofit and unjustly enriched themselves by restructuring the business.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had previously placed Musk on “recall status”; This meant he could return to court to testify at short notice if necessary. NBC has been reported previously.
Witnesses at a hearing must normally submit a petition for permission to travel and wait for the judge to grant the request before traveling away.
The court spokesman said they did not know whether Musk had a travel permit. Musk’s lawyers did not respond to a request for information on whether they had discussed his travel with a judge and approved it or whether they had consulted with Musk regarding his travel.
Musk traveled with Trump before closing arguments began in Beijing after being invited by President Donald Trump to join him for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In addition to the Tesla and Space X chiefs, the Trump delegation also included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
