Meet The Lawyer Who Took Away Elon Musk’s $56 Billion

Gregory Varallo is a corporate lawyer in Delaware. But in the wake of a landmark Delaware court ruling on Tuesday night, he’s not just any lawyer. Varallo is one of the few people to win a courtroom battle with Elon Musk, who has repeatedly prevailed in contentious shareholder and defamation lawsuits.

Varallo represented Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta, whose lawsuit against Tesla’s board over its 2018 grant of a pay package to CEO Musk resulted in a Delaware Chancery Court judge voiding the award on Tuesday. The judge, Kathaleen McCormick ruled that the pay package—stock compensation worth as much as $56 billion—was unfair to shareholders. In an interview, Varallo argued that the decision will have ripple effects throughout corporate America, putting more pressure on boards to pay closer attention to their independence from high-profile CEOs.

“I think it means the court is still paying attention carefully to how directors oversee CEOs,” Varallo said. “Just because you’ve got a rock star CEO doesn’t mean the board is absolved.”