SAN FRANCISCO: As their legal battle heats up, Elon Musk has accused Twitter of fraud, claiming the social media network misled him about fundamental components of its operations before he agreed to a $44 billion takeover.
The Tesla CEO filed the claim late Thursday as part of his defence against Twitter’s lawsuit, which seeks to force him to finish the acquisition, that he’s tried to cancel.
Musk said in a filing to a Delaware court that number of users who can be served advertising on the network is significantly lower than the firm’s estimates.
“Twitter’s disclosures have slowly unravelled,” the report claimed, “with Twitter hastily closing the gates on material in a desperate move to prevent the Musk Parties from finding its fraud.”
Twitter dismissed the eccentric billionaire’s claim in its own lawsuit, calling it “as absurd and opposed to fact as it sounds.”
“According to Musk, Twitter misled him into signing a $44 billion merger,” Twitter claimed.
Musk filed his countersuit last week, which was made public on Thursday, accompanied by a legal defence against Twitter’s argument that the tycoon is contractually obligated to finish the acquisition transaction.
