[PSZD]

Musk didn't say he wanted to take the company private, he said he wanted to AND that he had secured funding to do so at a specific price.

This is a clear statement of facts, something that would be entirely reasonable to trade based on. It also appears he knew this was a false statement, at best it was very reckless. I really don't see how you can defend this.

When your words make people gain or lose 9 or 10 digits of money in a matter of hours, they are taken very seriously.

[tim333]

And it seems likely that he did have the "intention of manipulating the price." He's gone on about price changes and annoying the short sellers quite a bit. He's not naive on this stuff.