Shareholders of Twitter Inc. Ilona Maska was accused of “illegal behavior” and attempts to manipulate the value of the company’s shares. The lawsuit, filed in the Northern California District Court, alleges that Elon Musk aimed to lower the market value of Twitter shares in order to either abandon the deal to buy the company or achieve a significant reduction in the purchase price.
Twitter itself is also mentioned in the lawsuit as a defendant, according to Market Watch. The company’s shareholders demand compensation for their losses.
Twitter reportedly accepted Ilona Mask’s offer to buy for $ 44 billion on April 25. However, in mid-May, the billionaire said that there would be no further movement of the deal until the company clarifies the situation regarding the share of fake accounts in the social network.
The lawsuit, however, alleges that Elon Musk, who made the ultimate Twitter offer, thus refused to conduct due diligence, although he could gain access to the company’s undisclosed public financial data.
The problem of fake accounts is not new to Twitter. Last year, the company paid $ 809.5 million to settle claims from US regulators, who accused the company of overstating data on the growth rate of its users. Twitter also provided the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with its estimate of the number of fake accounts, noting that it may be lower than the real figures.
Elon Musk plans to pay for part of the Twitter purchase by selling Tesla Inc. shares, which have lost nearly a third of their value since April 25.
The value of Twitter shares has fallen by almost 20% in the last month, Tesla – by 19%.