Jury Deliberations Begin in OpenAI Nonprofit Trial After Musk Skips Closing for Beijing
May 15, 2026 – 7:48 am
After three weeks of testimony in Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s Oakland courtroom, closing arguments wrapped on Thursday. The nine-person jury has been sent home and will begin deliberations on Monday.
The trial has pitted two contrasting readings of events: Musk’s claim that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman "stole a charity," or the defense argument that Musk simply "didn’t get his way at OpenAI."
Musk was absent for the closing, with his attorney apologizing on his behalf, citing Musk’s presence on Donald Trump’s Beijing delegation. The decision to skip the trial was considered less damaging than appearing to snub a foreign trip led by Trump.
Case Background:
The trial revolves around two key claims:
- OpenAI’s 2025 recapitalization, which converted the nonprofit into a profit structure valued at $350 billion, allegedly breaching the charitable trust under which Musk made initial donations of approximately $38 million between 2015 and 2017.
- Altman, Brockman, and Microsoft were unjustly enriched in the process.
Microsoft is named as a co-defendant for aiding and abetting. A significant piece of evidence was Brockman’s 2017 personal journal, which described OpenAI’s nonprofit status as "a lie."
Musk seeks up to $134 billion in disgorgement, but he has renounced any personal benefit from the outcome, aiming for OpenAI’s return to its nonprofit foundation. He also requests that Altman and Brockman be removed from their roles and that the recapitalization be undone.
The case is seen as a potential precedent regarding whether founders can convert charities into commercial entities without donor consent.
Defense Arguments:
OpenAI’s defense focused on narrower factual claims:
- Altman and Brockman never made enforceable commitments to Musk about corporate structure.
- Musk’s donations were utilized for the agreed-upon research mission.
- The recapitalization followed proper legal procedures approved by California’s attorney general.
Microsoft’s counsel argued that its $13 billion in cumulative investment kept OpenAI alive, preventing what Nadella’s trial testimony described as Microsoft’s potential fate of becoming "the next IBM."