A federal judge denied Elon Musk‘s request to relocate a coming securities-fraud trial involving comments he made as boss of Tesla Inc. TSLA, -0.94%Attorneys for Mr. Musk argued in a filing last week that potential jurors in the trial, scheduled to unfold in San Francisco, could be biased against the billionaire over his use and recent management of Twitter. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen held a hearing on the issue Friday morning and said the trial would proceed next week in San Francisco. The court, prior to the hearing, had sent questionnaires to about 190 prospective jurors, asking about their views of Mr. Musk and other issues to help determine whether they harbor a bias that would render them ineligible to serve on the jury. Judge Chen said he had reviewed the responses and that about 49 of them reflected mixed views of Mr. Musk and Tesla, about 27 appeared favorable to the defendants and about 76 showed a negative bent. Other responses appeared neutral.

Source: Wall Street Journal January 14, 2023 12:20 UTC