WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Testimony is under way in a shareholder lawsuit challenging approval by Tesla’s board of directors of a compensation plan potentially worth more than $55 billion for CEO Elon Musk. Attorneys packed a Delaware courtroom Monday as the trial began in a lawsuit filed in 2018. The lawsuit alleges that the performance-based stock option grant was negotiated by a compensation committee and approved in 2018 by board members who had conflicts because of personal and professional ties to Musk. It also alleges that a shareholder vote approving the plan was based on an incomplete and misleading proxy statement. The first witness was Ira Ehrenpreis, a prominent venture capitalist and longtime friend of Musk who chaired Tesla’s compensation committee when the grant was formulated.
