(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk asked a judge to let him ignore a request for a deep dive into his financial records from the cave explorer who sued him after they traded insults last year.
Vernon Unsworth wants the records, including a calculation of Musk's net worth, for a defamation trial set to start in December in Los Angeles.
The British caver didn't explain in his subpoena why he's seeking the records. Musk's lawyers said in a filing Thursday that disclosing the information would be “highly prejudicial” to their client and would “inflame the jury.”
Read More: Elon Musk Headed to Trial in U.K. Caver's Defamation Case
Besides, they said, Musk already has testified under oath that his net worth is “substantially in excess of $1 billion.”
“There is no amount of compensatory damages that a jury could properly award Mr. Unsworth on his claim, for which any net worth of Mr. Musk in excess of $1 billion would be relevant,” they wrote.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk has an estimated net worth of $27.3 billion.
Musk and Unsworth locked horns last year after the caver said in an interview on CNN that a mini-submarine Musk had sent to Thailand to help in a rescue of a group of boys trapped in a cave was a “PR stunt.” Unsworth added that Musk could “stick his submarine where it hurts.” Musk responded by calling Unsworth a “pedo guy” in a tweet and a “child rapist” in an email to a BuzzFeed reporter.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Joe Schneider
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