Tesla CEO Elon Musk has again filed to rescind his deal to buy Twitter, this time based on information from a whistleblower complaint filed by Twitter’s former security chief.
In an SEC filing on Tuesday, Musk said his legal team notified Twitter of “additional grounds” to end the deal beyond those given in the original termination notice issued in July .
In a letter to Twitter Inc., which was included in the filing, Musk’s advisers cited the whistleblower report by former executive Peiter Zatko, also known by his hacker handle, “Mudge.”
Zatko, who served as Twitter’s security chief until he was fired earlier this year, alleged in his complaint to US officials that the company misled regulators about its weak cybersecurity defenses and their negligence in trying to remove fake accounts that spread misinformation.
The letter, addressed to Twitter’s chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, said Zatko’s allegations provide additional grounds to end the deal if the July termination notice “is determined to be invalid by any reason.”
Musk has spent months arguing that the company he agreed to acquire did not account for his fake and spam accounts, meaning he does not have to approve the $44 billion US deal. Musk’s decision to back out of the deal sets the stage for a high-stakes legal battle in October.