The Media Line: Federal Jury Dismisses Elon Musk’s $150 Billion Lawsuit Against OpenAI as Untimely 

Federal Jury Dismisses Elon Musk’s $150 Billion Lawsuit Against OpenAI as Untimely  

By The Media Line Staff  

A federal jury in Oakland, California, ruled unanimously that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk waited too long to file his $150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, leading a judge to dismiss the case as untimely.  

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers immediately adopted the jury’s advisory verdict after jurors concluded that the statute of limitations had expired. The decision followed a three-week trial in federal court.  

The nine-member jury deliberated for less than two hours before reaching its conclusion.  

Musk had accused Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman of breaching fiduciary duties and abandoning OpenAI’s original nonprofit mission in favor of a heavily commercialized for-profit structure supported by Microsoft.  

According to Musk’s claims, Altman violated a nonprofit agreement after Musk donated $38 million to OpenAI. Musk argued that Altman accepted his funding while concealing plans to transform the company into a profit-driven business focused on generating personal wealth rather than developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.  

OpenAI’s legal team successfully argued that Musk had known for years about the company’s plans to adopt a for-profit structure and had delayed filing the lawsuit until 2024.  

The ruling removes a significant legal obstacle for OpenAI as the company prepares for a widely anticipated initial public offering that could reportedly value the firm at roughly $1 trillion.  

Following the decision, Musk criticized the ruling on X, describing the dismissal as a “calendar technicality.” His attorney, Marc Toberoff, said Musk’s legal team plans to appeal to the Ninth Circuit.  

Musk also renewed his accusations against Altman and Brockman in a post on X.  

“Altman & Brockman did in fact enrich themselves by stealing a charity. The only question is WHEN they did it!” Musk wrote. “Creating a precedent to loot ⁠charities is incredibly destructive to charitable giving in America.”