Elon Musk Accuses Twitter of Fraud in Countersuit Over $44B Deal – Twitter Sues Binance and Other Firms – Featured Bitcoin News

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused Twitter of fraud in the counter-suit against the social media company. Twitter filed a lawsuit against the billionaire to force him to go through with the $44 billion deal to buy the platform. “Musk Parties Bring Their Counterclaims for Breach of Contract and Rescission Based on Twitter’s Fraud.”

Elon Musk’s legal battle with Twitter intensifies

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk have filed a countersuit against Twitter after the social media giant sued him for ending its $44 billion deal to buy the platform. Musk’s countersuit, filed Thursday and published Friday, states:

This action arises because of Twitter’s misrepresentations to the Musk parties regarding the state of the company and the “key numbers” Twitter uses to evaluate the number of users on the platform.

“Twitter miscalculated the number of fake and spam accounts on its platform as part of a plan to mislead investors about the company’s prospects by focusing on its purported hundreds of millions of mDAU,” Musk alleged. The social media company defines monetized daily active users (mDAU) as “users who logged into and accessed Twitter on a given day through Twitter.com or Twitter applications capable of serving ads.”

The countersuit describes: “After signing the merger agreement, however, the Musk parties learned troubling facts that have raised serious doubts about Twitter’s representations.”

“While Twitter asks the court to compel the Musk parties to shut down Twitter’s misrepresentations and breach of contract, the Musk parties seek relief from the grave inequity of such a result,” Musk’s lawyers noted, elaborating:

Accordingly, the Musk parties bring their counterclaims for breach of contract and rescission based on Twitter’s fraud.

Twitter filed a series of rebuttals to Musk’s countersuit on Thursday, accusing the Tesla chief of cherry-picking numbers and misrepresenting how the online ad system works.

Bret Taylor, a Twitter board member, tweeted in response to Musk’s claims:

Twitter filed a response to Mr. Musk’s counterclaim. His claims are factually inaccurate, legally insufficient and commercially irrelevant. We look forward to the trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Twitter has subpoenaed crypto exchange Binance and more than a dozen of Musk’s advisers and future lenders as part of its lawsuit against the Tesla CEO. In May, Musk revealed that he had secured funding from 18 companies to buy Twitter, including Binance.

The other companies and individuals subpoenaed by Twitter included Factorial Funds, Benefit Street, Bandera Partners, Founders Fund Growth II Management, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, Tesla and Spacex. The subpoenas require them to hand over documents and communications that either support or refute Musk’s accusation that Twitter has underreported the number of fake or spam accounts on its platform.

Musk officially terminated the $44 billion deal to buy the social media giant last month, alleging that “Twitter is in material breach of several provisions of that agreement.” The billionaire’s lawyer noted that Twitter made “materially inaccurate representations,” particularly regarding the company’s claim that fewer than 5% of mDAUs are fake or spam accounts.

Twitter responded by suing Musk last month to force the Tesla CEO to go through with the buyout deal, claiming that “Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its shareholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.” The case is scheduled to go before the court on 17 October.

Do you think Twitter or Elon Musk will win this case? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and the intersection of finance and cryptography.