Shareholders have accused Musk of enriching himself to the company’s detriment.

In the midst of his ongoing revamp of social media platform Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been embroiled in a lawsuit cast against him by Tesla shareholders. The shareholders’ primary grievance revolves around the compensation package Musk accepted in 2018, which in the words of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, is more money than it cost to build the World Trade Center.

Elon Musk has taken the stand in a shareholder lawsuit over his multibillion-dollar compensation package at Tesla https://t.co/S7yE2zoH9i

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 16, 2022

Musk took the stand this morning to testify on the matter. Tesla executives and lawyers have defended the package, noting that the shareholders were the ones who originally approved it back in 2018.

“It was around motivating him to achieve things that were bold and audacious and him putting his time and energy into that as opposed to his other interests,” Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm testified Tuesday.

Former Tesla Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja countered that attempting to motivate Musk in this manner was “extremely high-risk, high-reward.”

Testimony has begun in a lawsuit brought by Tesla shareholders challenging a compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk potentially worth more than $55 billion.

The lawsuit alleges that the Tesla board members who approved the plan had conflicts of interest. https://t.co/oDg7o0yik4

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 14, 2022

“Even though I believe in Tesla deeply, I felt the level of difficulty of these milestones was so high that for a mere mortal like me, I did not find this as a compelling incentive plan at a personal level,” Ahuja said.