Musk’s Go-To Attorney Has Testimony Limited in Twitter Trial

Elon Musk’s top attorney, Alex Spiro, took the stand as a witness Tuesday for a few minutes, after Judge Charles R. Breyer significantly limited what Spiro could say to the jury in a trial over Musk’s turbulent 2022 Twitter acquisition.

The celebrity lawyer of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP has a long record of defending the billionaire tech mogul in cases around the country, including when Twitter sued Musk in Delaware to force him to follow through on his $44 billion purchase agreement. Musk’s statements during that period are under fire from investors who say they lost money because things Musk said on Twitter moved the stock price.

“There is no question he is the most important witness in this case,” Breyer told attorneys for Musk and the investors while the jury was outside the courtroom. But Musk has asserted attorney-client privilege so Spiro’s “most important testimony” can’t be produced, Breyer said.

Attorneys for investors suing Musk fought for months to disqualify Spiro as Musk’s attorney because they argued he was a key witness at the heart of the case who had first-hand knowledge of Musk’s acquisition. Breyer, a trial judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California, ultimately rejected their arguments and allowed Spiro to serve as both as Musk’s attorney and a witness.

But the judge throughout the trial has expressed concerns about witnesses veering too far into testimony implicating attorney-client privilege, which he has ruled is off limits in the case.

All told, Spiro testified for about 15 minutes, recounting his conversations with Twitter lawyers about renegotiating the purchase price. Spiro said Twitter offered in September 2022 a 5% discount on Musk’s original $44 billion purchase price on the condition that Musk not pursue Twitter’s executives for fraud connected to what Musk said were lies about the number of fake accounts on the platform.

That condition was a non-starter, Spiro said. “He absolutely will pursue them, he can pursue them forever,” Spiro said.

Musk ultimately agreed to purchase the company at the original price of $54.20 per share in October 2022.

The trial in San Francisco federal court will have an eight-person jury decide whether Musk defrauded Twitter investors by driving down the stock price to strike a better deal for his acquisition. Spiro still represents Musk in the case, but has stepped back from a jury-facing role because he would be called as a witness.

Musk, former chief executive officer Parag Agrawal, and former chief financial officer Ned Segal all testified last week.

The case is Pampena v. Musk, N.D. Cal., No. 3:22-cv-05937, 3/10/26.