After three weeks of testimony and many deliberations, the jury ruled against Elon Musk, finding that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman were not guilty. The judge found that the statute of limitations had expired when Musk sued the two executives.
Musk filed his lawsuit in 2024, accusing them of “stealing from public charity” following his exit from the AI lab in 2018. Although the jury in the case acted in an “advisory” role, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers agreed with the judge’s decision. Musk’s claims of “breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment are prematurely dismissed,” she said. CNBC. Although Musk could still appeal the decision, Rogers told his lawyer that he would dismiss the appeal at that time.
At the center of the case was the restructuring of OpenAI that transformed it from a non-profit to a public benefit organization. Musk has maintained that the move, along with Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in the company, was a violation of OpenAI’s original contractual agreements. The biggest question in the case, however, was when Musk recognized OpenAI’s desire to make a profit due to the three-year statute of limitations on the case.
“The facts and timeline in this case have long been clear, and we welcome the jury’s decision to dismiss these claims as timely,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. “We are committed to our work with OpenAI to advance and scale AI for people and organizations around the world.”
In a post to X following the decision, Musk said he plans to appeal. “Regarding the OpenAI case, the judge and jury have not yet ruled on the merits of the case, on the technicality of the calendar,” he wrote. “There is no question to anyone following this case in detail that Altman & Brockman actually enriched themselves by stealing from a charity. The only question is WHY THEY DID IT!”
In testimony, Musk’s lawyers tried to paint Altman as dishonest, lying, even referring to his recent discontent. New Yorker profile. Altman often struggled to answer the allegations against him. Asked if he thought he was honest, Altman said, “I believe so.” Musk’s legal team quickly jumped on that response. “Do you believe?” asked Steven Molo, the world’s leading lawyer for the wealthy. “I’ll just amend my answer to say yes,” Altman replied.
When later asked about statements by former OpenAI employees, including former CTO Mira Murati, who described Altman as someone who would say “one thing to one person and completely different to another person,” Altman also said he had not seen their evidence. “You have been called a fraud and a liar many times by the people you have done business with, right?,” asked Molo. “I’ve heard people say that,” Altman replied.
Where Altman appeared meek during his testimony, Musk was confrontational and testy. “Your questions are not simple. They’re designed to trick me, actually,” Musk told William Savitt, OpenAI’s lead advisor. As the case moved toward its conclusion, Musk was absent, despite an order from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers that he would remain in the case of being called to testify again. “Mr. Musk is not here today. My clients are,” Savitt told the judge during closing arguments. “Mr. Musk came to this court looking for exactly one witness: Elon Musk. Now he’s in parts unknown.” Parts unknown, in this case, have been on Trump’s side during his trip to China.
Even before the trial began, Musk faced lengthy hurdles in obtaining the remedies he sought. The billionaire wanted to reverse OpenAI’s profit-making transformation and force the removal of Altman and Brockman from their positions at the top of the company. There may have been a point early in OpenAI’s negotiations with the Attorneys General of California and Delaware where Musk might have had a chance to get his way, but it was clear that Judge Gonzales Rogers was deeply reluctant to overrule government officials. When Musk filed for a preliminary injunction to stop the conversion, the judge said the request was “rare and rarely granted.”
Update, May 18, 2026, 5:11PM PT: Added X’s post from Musk about the decision.
