Judge: Musk can use complaints, but not delay the case

Elon Musk will be able to include the statements of a Twitter whistleblower as evidence in his bid to get out of the deal to buy the social media platform, but he won’t be able to delay his trial scheduled for October, the judge in charge of the case ruled on Wednesday.

Judge Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick in Vermont denied Musk’s request to postpone the trial for four weeks, but allowed the testimony of Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, who is due to appear before Congress next week to discuss the deficiencies. company cybersecurity practices.

Twitter has sued Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, and has asked the Delaware court to force him to honor an agreement reached in April to buy the company for $44 billion. Musk has filed a countersuit and the trial is due to start the week of October 17.

Musk’s legal team maintains that Zatko’s claims to US authorities will confirm his claims that Twitter misled him about the proliferation of fake accounts and “spam.” Zatko, a renowned expert on cybersecurity issues, says that Twitter fired him in January for having warned about the social network’s negligence in protecting the security and privacy of its users.

The judge’s ruling came after a multi-hour session Tuesday in which lawyers for Musk and Twitter argued over the veracity of Zatko’s claims and the pace at which each side has been presenting evidence ahead of the trial. judgment.

Twitter’s lawyers sought to play down Zatko’s claims, arguing that the initial 27-page complaint he sent to Twitter and his subsequent retaliation claim did not address the issue of “spam” accounts, on which Musk has based his arguments. to abandon the agreement. Zatko “never said a word about spam accounts or bots” until he spoke to authorities, said William Savitt, a lawyer for Twitter.

Twitter maintains that Musk’s arguments for leaving the deal are nothing more than an excuse and that he is trying to get out of the deal for which he agreed to pay 38% above Twitter’s share price, before the market fell and Shares of Tesla, where Musk has most of his wealth, lost more than $100 billion in value.

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Judge: Musk can use complaints, but not delay the case