Vernon Unsworth was seeking $190m (£145m) in damages, after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO had called him “sus” (suspicious) and a “pedo guy” on Twitter in 2018. Mr Musk also described the British diver as a “child rapist” in e-mails to Buzzfeed reporter Ryan Mac. After the verdict, Mr Musk said: “My faith in humanity is restored.”
In his trial testimony Mr Musk apologised to the British diver and said that he did not believe that he was a pedophile.
The US entrepreneur’s defence team, led led by attorney Alex Spiro, claimed that “pedo guy” was simply heated rhetoric and not meant as a statement of fact.
They also argued that the phrase “pedo guy” is widely known as slang for “creepy old guy.”
Moreover, they implied that Mr Vernon had not suffered any serious damage to his reputation and that he was simply looking for a payday in court.
The conflict between the two men started when Mr Unsworth criticised Mr Musk for interfering in the rescue of 12 Thai boys and their football coach from flooded caves in Thailand in July 2018.
At the time, the British diver was helping to lead the rescue operation.
His expertise and knowledge of the caves proved instrumental in extracting the football team.
However, the Telsa boss decided to get involved and sent a mini-submarine, which he and his employees made, to Thailand.
JUST IN: Elon Musk apologises in court directly to British diver