More than four years after he said he had secured the funding to take Tesla off the stock market, Elon Musk will try to defend that statement in a trial that began on Tuesday in a federal court in San Francisco.

The case is brought by investors who claim Mr. Musk, the electric automaker’s chief executive, had not in fact lined up the money to take Tesla private and acted recklessly in discussing the embryonic plan to do so. If the plaintiffs get a jury to rule in their favor, Tesla and Mr. Musk could be forced to pay billions of dollars in damages.