After Elon Musk had been whisked out of San Francisco federal court on Thursday by his private security guards, and the courtroom was mostly emptied of the media herd that followed him, a more consequential witness was called to testify: Ned Segal.
Segal is the chief of housing and economic development under San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, and the former chief financial officer of Twitter. In that position, he was deeply involved in Musk’s tumultuous on-and-off again acquisition overtures toward the social media platform starting in April 2022.
Segal was called as a witness for lawyers representing investors who sued Musk over claims that the billionaire orchestrated a fraudulent campaign to wriggle out of, or renegotiate, the $44 billion deal. Musk ended up buying the social media company in October 2022 after Twitter sued him in Delaware to make good on his original offer. The following year, he rebranded the company and its website X.
Segal, who appeared again on Friday, told jurors that he has spent most of his life in San Francisco, where he is married and is raising three children. At one point, he said, he sold hot dogs at Candlestick Park. He went on to become an investment banker, a technology executive at various companies, and a board member and fundraiser at Tipping Point Community, the nonprofit founded by Lurie in 2005.
Segal was also one of four top Twitter executives who sued Musk in another lawsuit over unpaid salaries and stock awards after Musk fired them in late 2022. Musk settled the case last year for $128 million. On the witness stand, as in his political life, Segal is buttoned up; he’s all business in both demeanor and attire.
In court, he was succinct.
For the jury, which is being asked to find their way through a blizzard of tweets, emails, and dates, Segal served as a beacon of clarity and an antidote to a muddled Musk.
Musk is the named defendant in the case, and could be found liable for $1 billion if the jurors decide in favor of the investors. He has shown a tendency to tweet or say anything, no matter how banal or detrimental to his business or the world at large. In numerous television interviews shown at trial, jurors have seen examples of the fawning media attention he attracts.
Musk seems to relish attention. As a result of the many lawsuits he’s fought and the coaching he’s received from his lawyers, he is boring, repetitive. On the stand, he can be a confusing and confounding witness, likely deliberately so.
Segal was almost the opposite.
Mark Molumphy, a lawyer representing the investors, aimed to sway jurors with Segal’s image and testimony, while also poking holes in Musk’s defense.
Segal said he signed off on Twitter’s financial statements. Had they been proven to be false, it would’ve exposed Segal to criminal liability, possibly even jail. Musk’s defense to the fraud claims is that he discovered that Twitter was plagued by fake accounts, or spam, which made the company less valuable.
Segal further testified that Musk expressed little interest in learning from him, or the company, the true number of false accounts on the site, or how the company calculated them. Jurors were shown Segal’s May 6, 2022 text to Musk offering to help him learn more about his potential new acquisition: “Great to meet. Appreciate all the questions and look forward to more. Reach out any time. Ned,” Segal texted.
Musk never took him up on the offer, Segal said.
