Chris Davis Serves as Forensic Accounting Expert in Historic Securities Fraud Case

HUGE CONGRATS to co-counsels and their clients in GIUSEPPE PAMPENA V. ELON R. MUSK in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Chris is so grateful and lucky to have been part of the expert team who assisted the brilliant attorneys at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP and Bottini & Bottini, Inc. On Friday, March 20, 2026, a jury in San Francisco found Elon Musk committed securities fraud in connection with his $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter. Damages are estimated at $2.1 to $2.6 billion, one of the largest securities fraud damages awards by a jury in recent history. 

As plaintiffs’ forensic accounting expert (there was a separate damages expert), Chris submitted her expert report and testified in deposition. She applied her training and expertise in forensic accounting to identify information scattered throughout Musk’s and Twitters’ technical (and sometimes complicated) SEC filings and other reliable source documents to create a time-lapsed portrait of Musk’s funding composition as disclosed in public filings around the relevant time frame. Chris' analysis culminated in a calculation of how much more Tesla stock Musk would need to sell to complete his acquisition of Twitter at the time he made his tweeted statements on May 13, 16, and 17, 2022. With the dynamics of the case having evolved and given anticipated time constraints at trial, Judge Breyer determined Chris' expert testimony at trial was not necessary to show motive evidence, which evidence and analysis remained useful to counsel at trial. Learning of the verdict as the news broke was incredible, and hearing from counsel that her work was “invaluable” made Chris smile from ear to ear - felt so good. Chris is especially grateful for the opportunity to work directly with Aaron Arnzen and Gia Jung - they were truly a pleasure to work with and learn from. What a great experience working with them!

Congrats again to Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP and Bottini & Bottini, Inc. and their clients!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvjZIJn8XLg