Musk Requests Twitter Security Whistleblower as Witness... Desperate to Secure Witnesses

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who is engaged in a legal battle over the acquisition of Twitter, has reportedly requested Twitter’s internal whistleblower on security as a witness in the related trial. As the fierce dispute over the massive lawsuit amount intensifies, it is analyzed that competition to secure witnesses between Musk and Twitter is becoming heated.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 29th (local time), Musk’s legal team has requested at least 36 witnesses so far ahead of the hearing scheduled in October at the Delaware Court of Chancery in the United States. Among the witnesses summoned by the court are many celebrities, including Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter.

In addition, Musk’s legal team announced on the 29th that a subpoena was also issued to Peter Zatko, former head of security and Twitter internal whistleblower. Zatko filed complaints last month with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), alleging that Twitter’s management deceived federal regulators regarding security vulnerabilities. He worked as Twitter’s head of security from November 2020 until stepping down earlier this year.

Twitter dismissed the allegations, stating that Zatko was fired due to inefficient leadership and poor performance, but the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee plans to summon Zatko for a hearing on the 13th of next month. Twitter has also requested at least 84 witnesses, including investors involved in the acquisition contract and key figures in the information technology (IT) industry, aiming to win the lawsuit against Musk.

Legal experts point out that because the lawsuit involves an enormous amount of money, both Musk and Twitter are zealously trying to secure as many witnesses as possible, disregarding the snowballing litigation costs. Rafi Melkonian, a partner attorney at the local law firm Wright, Cross & Barger, said that in similar cases, not as many people appeared as in this case, adding, "This trial could just become a parade of famous figures from the tech industry."

Meanwhile, Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion (approximately 59 trillion won) in April this year, but three months later, in July, he abruptly canceled the contract citing reasons such as Twitter’s insufficient disclosure of information related to fake accounts, leading to the current lawsuit.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.