Lawyers seek nearly $6 billion in Tesla stock after getting Musk pay package struck down

Lawyersasked a Delaware judge to award them Tesla stock worth nearly $6 billion as of Friday as their fee for successfully arguing that CEO Elon Musk's 2018pay package was unlawful. 

The fee would dwarf records for attorney paydays if a judge approves it. Lawyers who worked on Enron-related class actions were awarded $688 million in fees in 2008. 

The lawyers had earlier convinced the Delaware chancery court to revoke Musk's $56 billion pay package from 2018, with the judge ruling that Tesla's board of directors failed to prove it was fair to shareholders.

On Friday, in a petition for fees and expense reimbursement filed to that court, the attorneys argued that the fee would be justified given how much value they delivered to Tesla shareholders. The lawyers represent former heavy metal drummer Richard Tornetta, who filed the suit on behalf of his fellow Tesla investors.

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The lawyers are asking for just over 11% of the Tesla shares that would have gone to Musk, or slightly more than 29.4 million shares. Tesla's stock closed Friday at $202.64 per share, meaning the fee would be worth about $5.96 billion. 

Taking their pay in Tesla shares demonstrates they are prepared to "eat our cooking," the lawyers wrote. 

They added: "This structure has the benefit of linking the award directly to the benefit created and avoids taking even one cent from the Tesla balance sheet to pay fees. It is also tax-deductible by Tesla." 

The shares they're asking for would be freely tradeable, they noted, while Musk's stock options included a five-year holding period starting from when he exercised them. 

Still, the lawyers described the nearly $6 billion in shares as "conservative" under Delaware law, which they said entitles them to