Washington [US], September 8 (ANI): A US judge on Wednesday (local time) gave a lifeline to Tesla chief Elon Musk by allowing him to amend his complaint against Twitter but rejected delaying the lawsuit over the disintegration of the billionaire’s deal to acquire the social media company. His attorneys had requested to amend his counterclaims after a whistleblower filed a complaint about Twitter’s security practices, reported Washington Post.
In a mixed ruling, Kathaleen McCormick, the chancellor of the Delaware court, said Musk could add whistleblowing revelations from a Twitter ex-security chief that surfaced in August. But she denied his request to push back the litigation, saying prolonging the suit “would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify.”
Musk’s attorneys argued to include allegations by Peiter Zatko, Twitter’s former head of security, that the social media platform hid critical information from them as they pursued a deal to purchase it. They said they should be allowed to incorporate the new allegations and pushed to delay the trial, a request that was denied, reported Washington Post.
Musk has been locked in a bitter legal battle with Twitter since announcing in July that he was pulling the plug on his USD 44 billion purchase of the company following a complex, volatile, months-long courtship.
Musk had cancelled the deal because he was misled by Twitter concerning the number of bot accounts on its platform, allegations rejected by the company.
According to The Hill, Twitter claims that the company suffered financial losses as a result of Musk’s withdrawal.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX called off the buyout due to what he claimed were “false and misleading representations” made by Twitter during the agreement processes and the company’s failure to provide information on “the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform.”
Twitter sued Musk to get him to complete the transaction, and Musk responded by filing his own lawsuit. Earlier this month, Musk made a suggestion that the acquisition would still go through if the social media business provided details on fake and bot accounts.
The Hill reports that the shareholder lawsuit was filed in late July and reportedly criticizes Musk for using “lame justifications” to cancel the deal. The five-day trial is due to go ahead beginning October 17 in the Delaware court. (ANI)
