Elon Musk can add new information from a Twitter whistleblower to his counterclaims in ongoing litigation over his attempt to back out of acquiring the site.
Judge will let Elon Musk add whistleblower claims to case against Twitter
However, Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick said Musk could seek “only incremental” information from Twitter on the new claims. And she also ruled that the trial will continue as scheduled on Oct. 17, rejected Musk’s ask for a delay.
Doing so “would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify,” she added in the court filing.
“We look forward to presenting our case in Court beginning on October 17th and intend to close the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk,” Twitter spokesman Brenden Lee said in a statement.
“We are hopeful that winning the motion to amend takes us one step closer to the truth coming out in that courtroom,” Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro said in a statement.
The Washington Post and CNN first reported last month on the whistleblower complaint. Zatko, a prominent hacker also known as “Mudge,” alleged that Twitter violated the terms of an 11-year-old settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, and alleged the company prioritized user growth over reducing spam.
Twitter has pushed back on Zatko’s allegations, calling them “riddled with inaccuracies.”
Musk earlier this year launched a hostile takeover attempt, and Twitter accepted his offer to pay about $44 billion for the company. But Musk filed to terminate the deal just months later, alleging that Twitter had misled him and his team about the prevalence of bots, or fake or automated accounts, on the site.
Twitter sued him to complete the merger and the judge largely granted the company’s request for an expedited trial.
McCormick’s decision to allow Musk to amend his counterclaims said it is typical to allow amendments in such cases, but she didn’t get into the details of Musk’s claims.
“I am reticent to say more concerning the merits of the counterclaims at this posture before they have been fully litigated,” she wrote. “The world will have to wait for the post-trial decision.”
Cat Zakrzewski contributed to this report.
Source: WP
