Bitcoin News and Finance
Elon Musk Outlines New Reasons to End Twitter Deal Citing Whistleblower Skip to main content

Elon Musk Outlines New Reasons to End Twitter Deal Citing Whistleblower

Elon Musk Outlines New Reasons to End Twitter Deal Citing Whistleblower

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has outlined new reasons to terminate the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Citing a whistleblower report, Musk’s lawyer said the allegations, known to the social media giant but undisclosed to Musk, indicate “far-reaching misconduct at Twitter.”

Elon Musk Presents More Reasons to Terminate Twitter Deal in New SEC Filing

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has found more reasons to terminate his $44 billion offer to buy Twitter Inc. Musk’s lawyer filed a letter he sent to Twitter with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Monday to provide additional notice of termination of the agreement.

Musk officially terminated his offer to buy Twitter on July 8. Twitter subsequently sued the Spacex boss to force him to close the deal, prompting Musk to countersue the social media giant.

In the letter sent to Twitter Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde, Musk’s lawyer detailed:

Allegations regarding certain facts, known to Twitter prior to and as of July 8, 2022, but undisclosed to the Musk parties prior to and at that time, have since come to light that provide additional and distinct bases to terminate the merger agreement.

The letter references a whistleblower report to Congress, the SEC, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed on July 6 by Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s former chief security officer. The report was recently published in the Washington Post.

Musk’s lawyer claimed that “The Zatko complaint alleges far-reaching misconduct at Twitter — all of which was disclosed to Twitter’s directors and senior executives, including [CEO] Parag Agrawal — that is likely to have severe consequences for Twitter’s business.”

For example, Zatko alleged that “Twitter is in material noncompliance” under data privacy, unfair trade practice, and consumer protection laws and regulations. Moreover, he said Twitter has been violating a consent decree it entered into with the FTC in 2011.

Alleging that “Twitter’s platform is built in significant part on the misappropriation and infringement of third party intellectual property,” the whistleblower claimed:

Twitter is uniquely vulnerable to systemic disruption resulting from data center failures or malicious actors, a fact which Twitter leadership (including its CEO) have ignored and sought to obfuscate.

Moreover, Zatko explained that “Twitter’s SEC filings contained untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state material facts necessary to make the statements therein not misleading.”

He further alleged that “Twitter’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, knowingly presented false and misleading reports to Twitter’s board of directors in order to cover up flagrant vulnerabilities in Twitter’s security and data protection infrastructure.”

A number of authorities in various countries are currently investigating the allegations by Zatko, Musk’s lawyer conveyed, adding:

Twitter will also now face a myriad of civil lawsuits, asserting claims pursuant to various privacy and cybersecurity laws, state consumer protection laws, false advertising laws, intellectual property theft and misappropriation and common law claims, such as unjust enrichment, fraud, and breach of contract.

There are also issues of intellectual property. The whistleblower revealed that “Twitter apparently never acquired the rights to Twitter’s core machine learning models, which the Musk Parties understand to be fundamental to the Twitter platform itself,” Musk’s lawyer wrote.

The case is scheduled to go to trial in the Delaware Chancery Court for five days beginning Oct. 17. However, Musk’s legal team is seeking to delay the trial by a month in light of the whistleblower disclosure.

Do you think Elon Musk has enough reasons to walk away from the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter? Let us know in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory