International
Musk to testify at trial over his $50 bn Tesla compensation
| By AFP | Juliette Michel |
Tesla tycoon Elon Musk will take the stand on Wednesday as part of a trial over his $50 billion pay package as CEO of the electric car giant.
Musk will testify in the same Delaware court where he faced a lawsuit by Twitter to make sure he went through with his buyout of the social platform.
The $44 billion purchase of Twitter has put Musk under a deluge of scrutiny after he conducted massive layoffs, scared advertisers and opened the platform to fake accounts.
The unrelated Tesla case is based on a complaint by shareholder Richard Tornetta, who accused Musk and the company’s board of directors of failing in their duties when they authorized the pay plan.
Tornetta alleges that Musk dictated his terms to directors who were not sufficiently independent from their star CEO to object to a package worth around $51 billion at recent share prices.
The Tesla shareholder accuses Musk of “unjustified enrichment” and asked for the annulment of a pay program that helped make the entrepreneur the richest man in the world.
According to a legal filing, Musk earned the equivalent of $52.4 billion in Tesla stock options over four and a half years after virtually all of the company’s targets were met.
When the plan was adopted it was valued at a total of $56 billion.
The non-jury trial began Monday with testimony from Ira Ehrenpreis, head of the compensation committee on Tesla’s board of directors, who said the targets set were “extraordinarily ambitious and difficult”.
Ehrenpreis argued that the board wanted to spur Musk to focus on Tesla at a time when the company was still struggling to gain traction.
‘Highly unusual’
The trial will run through Friday and is being presided over by Judge Kathaleen McCormick, the same judge who was to preside over the Twitter case.
There is no deadline for her decision which could take months.
It’s “highly unusual” for this kind of case to be brought to trial, Jill Fisch, Law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told AFP.
“There aren’t all that many successful challenges to executive compensation (as) the courts have typically treated this as a business decision,” she added.
But the court found in this case that Musk’s ownership of about 22 percent of Tesla and his role as CEO “could have an undue impact” on the board and other shareholders, she noted.
Musk canceled an in-person appearance on Sunday at an event on the sidelines of the G20 in Bali to be in court.
Asked why he had not traveled to the tropical Indonesian island, the new Twitter boss joked that his “workload has recently increased quite a lot” after his takeover of the social media giant.
International
Justice Department Misses Deadline as Millions of Epstein Files Remain Under Review
The U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday that it is continuing to review more than two million documentspotentially linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Last month, the department began releasing records from its decades-long investigation into Epstein, a wealthy financier who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors.
However, the Justice Department failed to meet the legal deadline established by the so-called Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required all related documents to be made public no later than December 19.
In a letter sent Monday to a federal judge, the department stated that more than two million documents remain “at various stages of review.”
According to the filing, authorities have so far released approximately 12,285 documents totaling more than 125,000 pages, in compliance with the law. Those materials, however, represent less than 1 percent of the total volume currently under review.
International
Beijing Says International Support Strengthens Its Position on Taiwan Sovereignty Issue
A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, stated at a regular press briefing that several dozen countries have expressed support for China’s actions following recent countermeasures and military drills concerning the Taiwan region. These comments were made as Beijing continues to defend its stance on Taiwan after large-scale military exercises by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) near the island
According to the official statement, countries including Russia, Cuba, Serbia, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and others publicly reaffirmed their commitment to the one-China principle, reiterated their opposition to external interference in China’s internal affairs, and voiced support for China’s efforts to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Lin emphasized that these countries specifically noted that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory” and that “the Taiwan question is China’s internal affair,” adding that any form of Taiwanese independence must be rejected. He also praised these nations for their firm diplomatic support.
The spokesperson reiterated China’s position that it will remain steadfast in defending its national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and warned that any provocations concerning the Taiwan question would be met with a firm response.
International
Maduro, Delcy Rodríguez sued in Florida over alleged kidnapping, torture and terrorism
U.S. citizens have revived a lawsuit in Miami against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following his capture, as well as against Vice President and now acting leader Delcy Rodríguez and other senior Chavista officials, whom they accuse of kidnapping, torture, and terrorism.
The plaintiffs — including U.S. citizens who were kidnapped in Venezuela and two minors — filed a motion over the weekend before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida asking the court to declare the defendants in default for failing to respond to the lawsuit initially filed on August 14, 2025, according to court documents made public on Monday.
The case, assigned to Judge Darrin P. Gayles, accuses the Venezuelan leaders of violating the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), the Florida Anti-Terrorism Act, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
In addition to Maduro and Rodríguez, the lawsuit names Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López; Attorney General Tarek William Saab; Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello; former Supreme Court Chief Justice Maikel Moreno; and National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez.
The complaint also lists the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and former Electricity Minister Néstor Reverol as defendants.
According to the filing, Maduro “committed flagrant acts of terrorism against U.S. citizens,” citing the criminal case in New York in which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in court for the first time on Monday following their arrest on Saturday.
The lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs “were held captive by Maduro” with “illegal material support” from the other defendants, whom it identifies as members of the Cartel of the Suns, a group designated by the United States as a terrorist organization last year.
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