Musk’s lawyer urges judge to delay Twitter trial due to whistleblower

By Tom Hals and Sheila Dang

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) – A trial over Elon Musk’s bid to finish his $44 billion deal for Twitter Inc must be delayed by a number of weeks to permit the billionaire to research a whistleblower’s claims about safety on the social media platform, Musk’s lawyer advised a choose on Tuesday.

“Would not justice demand just a few weeks to look into this?” mentioned Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, at a listening to in Wilmington, Delaware.

Final month, whistleblower allegations turned public that supplied Musk, the world’s richest particular person, contemporary ammunition to bolster what authorized consultants mentioned was a long-shot try to stroll away from the deal with out paying a $1 billion termination payment.

Twitter’s former head of safety, Peiter Zatko, a famed hacker often known as “Mudge,” mentioned in a grievance to regulators that the corporate falsely represented that it had a strong knowledge safety plan.

Twitter has dismissed Zatko’s allegations as a “false narrative” and its lawyer accused the billionaire on Tuesday of seizing on the whistleblower allegations to cowl up the truth that he supposedly rushed in to purchasing the corporate with out assessing the dangers.

“Mr. Musk is blaming Twitter for his failing to do customary due diligence,” mentioned William Savitt, an legal professional for Twitter. He urged the choose to stop Musk from including whistleblower claims to his lawsuit however mentioned if allowed, the five-day trial ought to start on Oct. 17 as scheduled.

Savitt learn an early Might message from Musk to a banker that turned up within the litigation during which the billionaire wrote “it will not make sense to purchase Twitter if we’re heading into World Warfare III.” Savitt mentioned it was proof that Musk is on the lookout for any manner out of the deal and his preliminary claims about bots and pretend accounts have been merely a pretext to finish the deal.

Twitter and Musk have sued one another. The corporate desires Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Court docket of Chancery to order Musk to purchase the corporate for the $54.20 per share he agreed to in April.

Shares of Twitter ended Tuesday buying and selling at $38.65 per share, up barely.

McCormick ended Tuesday’s listening to with out saying when she would rule.

Musk, who can also be chief govt of electrical automobile maker Tesla Inc, initially countersued Twitter for deceptive him in regards to the quantity of pretend or bot accounts on the platform, which he mentioned allowed him to stroll away from the deal.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del., and Sheila Dang in Dallas; Modifying by Matthew Lewis)