Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has again filed paperwork to terminate his agreement to buy Twitter, this time based on information in a whistleblower complaint filed by Twitter’s former head of security.
In an SEC filing on Tuesday, Mr Musk said his legal team notified Twitter of “additional bases” for ending the deal on top of the ones given in the original termination notice issued in July.
In a letter to Twitter, which was included in the filing, Mr Musk’s advisers cited the whistleblower report by former executive Peiter Zatko – also known by his hacker handle Mudge.
Mr Zatko, who served as Twitter’s head of security until he was sacked early this year, alleged in his complaint to US officials that the company misled regulators about its poor cybersecurity defences and its negligence in attempting to root out fake accounts that spread disinformation
The letter, addressed to Twitter’s chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, said Mr Zatko’s allegations provide extra reasons to end the deal if the July termination notice “is determined to be invalid for any reason”.
Billionaire Mr Musk has spent months alleging that the company he agreed to acquire undercounted its fake and spam accounts, which means he does not have to go through with the 44 billion US dollar (£37 billion) deal.
Mr Musk’s decision to back out of the transaction sets the stage for a high-stakes legal battle in October.
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
