But in a Monday court filing, Musk’s team proposed a new schedule with the trial taking place sometime in November, depending on the court’s availability. Included in the exhibits attached to the motion, one of which was sealed, was a copy of former Twitter head of security and whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko’s disclosure, which was first reported by CNN and the Washington Post last week.
Musk’s team has also asked the court for the opportunity to update their counterclaims and response to Twitter’s initial complaint, which accuses the billionaire of breaching the agreement and asks a court to compel him to follow through with the deal.
A Twitter spokesperson said in a statement to CNN Business that the company remains “committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk. We have not breached any of our representations or obligations under the Agreement, and have not suffered and are not likely to suffer a Company Material Adverse Effect.”
In their earlier move to scrap the deal, Musk and his team accused the company of violating the agreement by lying about the number of bots on its platform and failing to turn over information Musk says he needs to evaluate the issue.
In response to Musk, Twitter sent its own letter on Tuesday rejecting his latest attempt to scrap the deal, calling it “invalid and wrongful.” Musk’s letter, Twitter wrote, “is based solely on statements made by a third party that, as Twitter has previously stated, are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lack important context.”
“Mr. Zatko will comply with his legal obligations of that subpoena and his appearance at the deposition is involuntary,” Zatko’s attorneys, Debra Katz and Alexis Ronickher, said in a statement Monday. “He did not make his whistleblower disclosures to the appropriate governmental bodies to benefit Musk or to harm Twitter, but rather to protect the American public and Twitter shareholders.”
Musk lawyer Alex Spiro told CNN last week that they had subpoenaed Zatko in the case even before his whistleblower complaint was made public. In a court hearing in the case last Wednesday, Spiro mentioned Zatko multiple times. Spiro suggested during the hearing that the billionaire’s team does not trust Twitter’s estimate for spam accounts and monetizable daily active users (mDAU), a key metric it provides to investors, and said Musk’s team is requesting information that would allow them to test the measurements.