Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick said Elon Musk can add Whistleblower complaints to his Twitter counter-suit, but must be prepared for an October 17 trial.
Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter Inc. Report shares jumped higher Wednesday after Elon Musk was granted a request to add whistleblower allegations in support of his disputed takeover of the social media group, but was denied an attempt to delay the mid-October trial.
Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Chancery granted Musk’s request following a petition by his lawyer, Alex Spiro, during a hearing late Tuesday.
Sprio had asked the court for a few weeks” to look into allegations made a former Twitter security chief, Peiter Zatko, that accused the social media group of insufficient oversight and a focus on profits that allowed spam accounts to proliferate on the micro-blogging platform.
Zatko, who is also know in the hacking community as ‘Mudge’, first provided details of his allegations last month to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
The Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc. Report CEO was granted the right to include Zatko’s allegations in his counter-suit against Twitter, which is demanding he follow-through on his early Spring promise to buy the company for around $44 billion.
However, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick insisted the October 17 trial date will remain in place, suggesting any evidence from a Zatko deposition may not weigh heavily on her overall decision.
Twitter shares were marked 4% higher in early Wednesday trading to change hands at $40.17 each.
Musk has been locked in public dispute with Twitter since early July over the amount of so-called “fake” or “bot” accounts on the social media platform, which he says constitute a material change to the merger terms he agreed in the spring.
Twitter has demanded that Musk pay the promised $54.20 per share for the group, with attorney William Savitt accusing Musk of using the ‘bot account’ controversy as a pretext to exiting his promised takeover.
