San Francisco, Jan 19 (IANS): The controversial 2018 tweets by Elon Musk on taking Tesla private has come back to haunt him and he stands to lose billions in a class-action lawsuit by Tesla investors that went underway here.

The plaintiffs argued that Musk's tweets about taking Tesla private, in which he said he had "funding secured", led them to lose millions of dollars.

In a class-action lawsuit, Tesla shareholders who traded the company's stock in the days after Musk's tweet sued him "for billions of dollars in damages", reports The Verge.

Glen Littleton, a Tesla investor and lead plaintiff, said he believed in Musk's tweet and liquidated between 90 per cent to 95 per cent of his stocks.

"I couldn't afford to stay in," Littleton told jurors.

His lawyers argued he lost $3.5 million as a result, according to the report.

"I'm hoping we recover the losses that were incurred because of the tweet," Littleton was quoted as saying.

Musk in August 2018 tweeted: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured."

"Shareholders could either sell at 420 or hold shares & go private," he added.

He further stated that "my hope is 'all' current investors remain with Tesla even if we're private. Would create a special purpose fund enabling anyone to stay with Tesla. Already do this with Fidelity's SpaceX investment".