Musk's China trip during OpenAI trial prompts apology from his lawyer for CEO's absence

Elon Musk's lead counsel, Steven Molo, apologized to the jury for his absence on Thursday, with the Tesla CEO accompanying President Donald Trump in China as closing arguments were made in the Musk-Altman trial.

"This is something he is passionate about," Molo assured the jury about Musk's attention to the trial.

The trial in federal court stems from a lawsuit Musk brought against his OpenAI co-founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, alleging they had violated a promise to keep their company a nonprofit, and had unjustly enriched themselves by restructuring the business.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had previously placed Musk on "recall status," meaning he was supposed to be available to return to the court, if needed, to testify on short notice, as NBC reported.

The world's richest person testified during the first week of the trial.

Witnesses in a trial would normally need to submit a motion for permission to travel and wait for a judge to grant that motion before traveling far away.

A spokesperson for the court said they did not know if Musk obtained permission to travel. Musk's attorneys did not respond to a request for information about whether they cleared his travel with the judge or consulted with Musk regarding his travel.

Musk traveled with Trump before closing arguments were underway, as the president held meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, and Apple CEO Tim Cook were part of Trump's delegation.

In the Oakland courtroom on Thursday, Altman and Brockman were both in attendance.