Elon Musk flew to China for President Trump’s state visit to the country despite being warned by a judge that he could be recalled for the ongoing OpenAI trial. The colossal lawsuit filed by Musk alleges that OpenAI, which he co-founded, went against its mission by creating a for-profit arm. Musk testified in Oakland, California, as part of the trial last month.
Before Musk left the witness stand on April 30, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers asked the parties involved if there was any reason to hold Musk in “recall status,” NBC News reported. OpenAI’s lawyers said, “Yes.”
“Okay, Mr Musk, you are not excused, but you can leave for the day,” Rogers told Musk, who was not required to attend in person for the whole of the case.
“A typical witness would not leave the country if they were subject to recall,” Jeffrey Bellin, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, told the network. However, he did note that there is no set rule for how near to a courthouse a witness must be if they are subject to recall. Usually, that is a matter for a judge to decide, and attorneys would discuss the issue with the judge. Beijing is around 5,900 miles away from Oakland, and flying from the Chinese capital to nearby San Francisco would take around 14 hours.
Musk boarded the flight Tuesday, and the final day of testimony in the trial was Wednesday, with closing arguments scheduled for Thursday. “If I were the attorney, I would have made sure that if my witness is subject to recall and he’s left the country, that the judge is OK with that,” Bellin added.
It is not clear if Musk obtained permission or not. If recalled, the tech billionaire may have been required to show up at short notice, and the judge could be “very aggravated” if they did not give permission in advance, Bellin said.
Musk has yet to comment on reports of the recall requirement. Sam Altman, who co-founded OpenAI with Musk as a nonprofit company in 2015, testified on Tuesday. According to Reuters, Musk is seeking to have Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, and Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI, removed from their roles. He is also seeking $150 billion in damages to be paid into an OpenAI nonprofit.
