Chesnut/Getty Images
It's a hell of a lot more than 140 characters, but the class and benefits lawsuit filed against Elon Musk and X Corp by a quartet of former Twitter executives sends a very clear message.
Hand over the money you owe us!
That's a letter worth a total of $128 million that former CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, former COO Vijaya Gade, and former General Counsel Sean Edgett are demanding in a complaint filed in federal court in Northern California today.
“Because Musk decided he did not want to pay severance pay to the plaintiffs, he simply fired them without cause, then fabricated a bogus case and hired employees at his various companies to support his decision,” the six’s somewhat redacted claims filing notes.
Read the complaint filed by Twitter's former CEO, CFO, Chief Legal Officer, and General Counsel against Elon Musk here.
Pointing to the “staggering number of lawsuits filed by its vendors and service providers across a range of industries” and mounting legal action from “thousands of former non-executive employees” against Musk and the social media platform formerly known as Twitter since the eccentric billionaire bought the company, the company has been under duress for 44 billion dollars in 2022, and the four CEOs continue to challenge Musk's MO when it comes to former employees and others. “These are Musk’s rules: keep the money he owes others, and force them to sue him,” they insist. “Even in defeat, Musk can impose delays, hassles, and expenses on others who are less able to bear them.”
To that end, powerful tech moguls, represented by Sidley Austin's offices in San Francisco and Chicago, are using Musk's oft-prosecuted and often controversial words against him.
“Musk told his biographer, Walter Isaacson, that he would haunt every one of Twitter’s CEOs and directors until the day they died,” the 38-page complaint says. “These statements weren't just the rants of a selfish billionaire surrounded by his enablers unwilling to confront him with the legal consequences of his choices. Musk bragged to Isaacson specifically about how he planned to con Twitter executives out of severance pay in order to save $200 million. dollars for himself.
The needle in the haystack here is that Agrawal, Segal, Gadd, and Edgett all had “good cause” clauses in their respective contracts that assured them of full compensation in the event of a circumstance such as Twitter ceasing to be a “publicly traded entity” — As happened with Twitter in October 2022. Musk and his followers appear to have ignored these terms when they showed the door to Agrawal (who alone would have received a $60 million golden handshake), Segal, Gadd, and Edget.
After Musk spent the day expressing his dismay at immigration statistics and his joy at Space Representatives for X did not respond to Deadline's request for comment on the move by former CEO Agrawal, former CFO Segal, former legal/policy chief Gadde, and former general counsel Edgett.
If Musk or X have something to say about today's complaint, this post will be updated.
“Beer aficionado. Gamer. Alcohol fanatic. Evil food trailblazer. Avid bacon maven.”