Musk, the world’s richest person, amended his previously filed lawsuit by adopting the allegations of a Twitter whistleblower, who told Congress on Tuesday that foreign agents interfered with the influential social media platform. social media.
The chief executive of electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. also alleged that Twitter hid from him that it was not complying with a 2011 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission over user data.
“Needless to say, the latest disclosures make it undeniably clear that the Musk parties have every right to opt out of the merger agreement – for many independent and sufficient reasons,” the amended countersuit states.
Musk said the claims of the whistleblower, former Twitter security chief Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, amounted to fraud and a breach of contract by Twitter.
Musk has asked a Delaware judge to find that he was not obligated to make the deal, while Twitter wants the judge to order Musk to buy out the company for $54.20 a share. A five-day trial is due to begin Oct. 17.
Shares of Twitter were up 0.6% in Thursday night trading.
Twitter said it conducted an internal investigation into Zatko’s allegations and determined they were unfounded. The company said Zatko was fired for his poor performance.
Lawyers for Twitter told the court that the whistleblower allegations that Musk incorporated into his filing were not grounds for terminating the agreement or failing to meet the criteria for fraud.