WILMINGTON: Elon Musk’s attorney argued to the judge on Tuesday that the judge should postpone the trial for a few weeks so that the billionaire can look into allegations of security on the social media platform made by a whistleblower. Musk is attempting to terminate his $44 billion deal with Twitter Inc.
Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, questioned why justice didn’t require a few weeks to investigate this during a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware. Whistleblower charges that were made public last month gave Musk, the richest man in the world, new support for his improbable attempt to terminate the agreement without paying a $1 billion termination fee, according to experts.
Peiter Zatko, a well-known hacker known as “Mudge,” who served as Twitter’s previous head of security, claimed in a complaint to authorities that the firm misrepresented that it had a reliable data security strategy.
Twitter has called Zatko’s claims “false narratives,” and on Tuesday, the company’s counsel charged that the billionaire was using the whistleblower claims to hide the fact that he allegedly rushed into buying the business without fully understanding the risks.
Mr. Musk is attributing his lack of standard due diligence to Twitter, according to William Savitt, an attorney for the company. He pleaded with the court to stop Musk from including whistleblower claims in his complaint, but if that were to happen, he said the five-day trial should start on October 17 as scheduled.
