A Jury Found Musk's 'Deal on Hold' Tweet Was False: Twitter Investors Who Sold Between May 13 and October 4, 2022 Can Claim Until November 24, 2026 — the Jury Set $2.98 to $8.44 a Share, and Musk Is Appealing

If you sold Twitter shares or call options, or bought Twitter put options, between May 13 and October 4, 2022, you may be owed money from a jury verdict against Elon Musk — but only if you file a claim by November 24, 2026. This is not a settlement. In Pampena v. Musk, a securities class action filed on October 10, 2022, the investors took Musk to trial. The trial began on March 2, 2026 in San Francisco, and on March 20, 2026 the jury returned its verdict. The official site summarizes it: “The jury found that defendant Elon Musk violated the federal securities laws by making a false and misleading statement about his acquisition of Twitter and that Musk did so in violation of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. As a result of this fraudulent conduct, the jury determined that Twitter's stock price was artificially deflated between May 13, 2022, and October 4, 2022.”

The background, as Judge Charles R. Breyer later summarized the trial record: Musk had agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, about $44 billion, in a deal announced on April 25, 2022. On May 13, 2022 he tweeted: “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.” The judge wrote that “the deal was not on hold and Musk had been aware of bot issues on Twitter since before he made his tender offer,” and that the share price “remained low until October 4, when Musk announced that he would go through with the deal.” Musk's lawyers argued at trial that his remarks rested on well-founded concerns about bots, spam and fake accounts and were not securities fraud, CNBC reported.

The jury did not side with the investors on everything. On the verdict form it found two statements false — the May 13 tweet and a May 17 tweet saying the deal “cannot move forward” until Twitter's CEO showed proof — but it rejected a claim over a May 16 remark putting fake accounts at about 20 percent, and it rejected the claim that Musk ran a scheme to defraud Twitter investors. In an order of July 6, 2026, Judge Breyer then set aside the May 17 tweet: “Without an expert opinion on price maintenance, Plaintiffs lack substantial evidence to support a finding of loss causation with respect to the May 17 tweet.” Everything else stood. He denied Musk's request for a new trial and his motion to decertify the class, added prejudgment interest, and approved the claims process now running. The order opens: “Buyer's remorse is not an exception to the securities laws.”

It is not over. Final judgment was entered on April 3, 2026, and on July 30, 2026 Musk filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit from the judgment and the July 6 order; the appeal is No. 26-4928. Under the appeals court's schedule notice of July 31, 2026, Musk's opening brief is due October 22, 2026 and the investors' answering brief November 23, 2026. On verdict day his lawyers at Quinn Emanuel called the result “a bump in the road” and said they “look forward to vindication on appeal,” according to CNBC. As of September 30, 2026, the official site still gives November 24, 2026 as the claim deadline.

The class is “All persons and entities who sold the publicly traded stock or call options, or purchased the put options, of Twitter, Inc. during the period from May 13, 2022 through October 4, 2022, both dates inclusive, and who suffered damages” from the violation. Musk and anyone who opted out earlier are excluded, and nobody can opt out now. What counts is a sale in the window: if you held your Twitter shares until Musk's deal closed — the stock last traded on October 27, 2022 — and did not sell between May 13 and October 4, you are not in this class, by our reading of the definition.

For shares, the jury wrote a deflation figure for every trading day on the verdict form. That figure is the damage per share for a share you already owned before May 13, 2022 and sold on that day: $6.17 for May 13, $7.94 for May 18, a high of $8.44 for May 24 and a low of $2.98 for September 30, 2022; the last row, October 3, reads $3.36. We read these from the handwritten, signed form; the $7.94 is confirmed in the official FAQ. The administrator's own example: “If you purchased 1,000 Twitter shares any time before May 13, 2022, and sold those shares on May 18, 2022, your damages would equal $7940.00 (1,000 shares x $7.94, as awarded by the jury for May 18, 2022) plus interest (less any Court approved deductions).”

If you bought and sold inside the window, the number shrinks. Sales are matched to purchases first-in, first-out, and the damage per share is “the deflation on the disposition date less the deflation on the acquisition date” — so a share bought on a day with higher deflation than the day you sold it shows no damages for that share under the formula. Call options sold and put options bought use the same method, “with each option series having its own daily deflation amount”; the option tables are posted as spreadsheets on the site's Important Documents page. Short sales not covered by October 4, 2022 are capped by the federal 90-day “lookback” rule for securities damages.

Deductions come off the top. Class counsel — Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP and Bottini & Bottini, Inc. — will ask for fees of up to 31% of the total damages plus interest, litigation expenses of up to $5 million, and service awards of up to $150,000 combined for the three lead plaintiffs. The judge decides after the claims process, and class members with valid claims can object up to 21 days before that hearing. Interest runs the other way: Judge Breyer awarded prejudgment interest at the Treasury bill rate, compounded annually, from October 4, 2022 through the entry of final judgment.

What that means in dollars, by our arithmetic and not an official figure: someone who owned 100 shares before the window and sold them all on May 13, 2022 has $617 in damages before interest. If the fee were set at the 31% ceiling, about $426 would remain before interest and before the share of expenses and service awards; the official 1,000-share example would come to about $5,479 on the same assumption. The notice says approved claimants are entitled to their damages as calculated under the verdict, “reduced only by Class Members' proportionate share of any fees, expenses, and service awards” — not a slice of a fixed settlement fund. No total for the whole class appears on the official site; the plaintiffs' lawyers told CNBC on verdict day that total damages “could reach up to $2.6 billion.”

There are two ways to file. Online at TwitterAcquisitionLitigation.com under “Submit a Claim”: have everything ready before you start, because, the site warns, “your claim will not be saved if you have to come back and finish at a later time.” Or on paper: download the claim form, fill it in, attach copies, sign, date and mail it to Twitter Acquisition Litigation, c/o Epiq Systems, Inc., ATTN: CLAIMS, PO Box 3015, Portland, OR 97208-3015. The form must be submitted online, or postmarked or received, no later than November 24, 2026.

The form asks for more than your trades in the window. You list the Twitter shares you held at the opening of trading on May 13, 2022, and every purchase and sale — profit or loss — from May 13 through October 27, 2022, in order by trade date, not settlement date. Options go in separate schedules. The part that decides a claim is proof: “Copies of broker confirmations or other documentation of your transactions in Twitter common stock and put and call options must be submitted with your Claim Form. Failure to provide this documentation could delay verification of your claim or result in rejection of your claim. THE PARTIES DO NOT HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR TRANSACTIONS.” Trade confirmations, emails from your broker, or monthly, quarterly or annual statements all count; if you no longer have them, the notice says to get copies from your bank or broker. Do not send originals, and if you want proof that a paper form arrived, the form suggests certified mail, return receipt requested.

Held your shares at a broker? The form says the claim must be filed by the actual beneficial owner of the shares or that owner's legal representative. Banks, brokers and other nominees had to forward the notice to their customers or send the administrator their names within ten days; nominees filing for several clients, and investors with many trades, can submit electronically through EpiqFiling.

When money might arrive: not soon. Under the schedule the court approved, the administrator files a report listing all valid claims 180 days after the deadline — around May 23, 2027, by our count. Musk then has 30 days to raise issues with claims, the investors 30 days to respond, and 21 days after that the lead plaintiffs move for distribution of the money together with the fee request. The official site does not say whether payments will wait for the Ninth Circuit's decision. This article explains the claims process; it is not investment, legal or tax advice.

The notice is real. The claims administrator is Epiq Class Action and Claims Solutions, appointed by the court; the official site is TwitterAcquisitionLitigation.com, the toll-free number is 1-888-863-8101, and the email address is info@TwitterAcquisitionLitigation.com. The mailed notice states: “A federal court authorized this Notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.” Under the approved plan it was to be mailed to the 171,578 individuals and entities that received the earlier class notice, mailed in May 2025, and to about 1,000 brokers and other nominee holders to pass on to their customers. The site asks you not to call the court: “PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR THE COURT CLERK'S OFFICE TO INQUIRE ABOUT THIS NOTICE OF VERDICT OR THE CLAIM PROCESS.”

You do not need your own lawyer. Class counsel already represent everyone in the class; the notice says you “may, but are not required to” hire one, “at your own expense.” Questions about the case, other than requests for the notice, go to Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy (1-650-697-6000, TwitterInquiries@cpmlegal.com) or Bottini & Bottini (1-858-914-2001). We saw no filing fee on the official claim pages. Be careful with anyone who offers to file for you in exchange for a share of the payment, or who writes from an address other than the official site: the claim form asks for copies of statements, not your brokerage login.

The notice itself points out what makes this case different: the verdict entitles class members to “the full value of your damages plus interest,” and “This is different from most securities class action settlements which only offer a percentage of a recognized loss.” The flip side is that a verdict can still be changed on appeal. Judge Breyer has already removed one of the two tweets from the case; the Ninth Circuit could leave the rest as it is, cut it further, or send parts of it back.

Musk attacked the verdict on several fronts that the judge rejected, among them juror bias. He pointed to the one entry in the damages table written in blue ink — $4.20, for August 9, 2022 — and argued that the number 420 “is often negatively associated with him, and that it proves the jury used its verdict to send a message.” Judge Breyer disagreed, noting that the jury ruled for Musk on two of the four claims and used different pens at different times while filling out the form.

If you came here looking for a different Elon Musk lawsuit: Musk's own suit against OpenAI was dismissed after a jury found on May 18, 2026 that he had sued too late, and it was never a case that pays consumers — see our OpenAI lawsuit page. Tesla owners dealing with a recall can look up their car with our Tesla recall check. For the Twitter case, the place to file is the official site, and the date that matters is November 24, 2026.