4 ex-Twitter executives, together with former Chief Government Officer Parag Agrawal, sued firm proprietor Elon Musk for allegedly stiffing them on greater than $128 million in severance funds after they had been ousted from the corporate.
The previous high officers mentioned Musk confirmed “particular ire” towards them after he took over the social-media platform in 2022, publicly vowing to withhold their severance to recoup about $200 million from the $44 billion deal, in accordance with a lawsuit filed Monday in federal courtroom in northern California.
Twitter, which Musk renamed X, has been accused in a number of fits of quite a few labor and office violations, together with failing to pay severance to hundreds of staff laid off within the months after the takeover. The corporate additionally was accused in a raft of fits of failing to pay thousands and thousands owed to distributors and landlords whereas purportedly making an attempt to remain financially solvent.
“Below Musk’s management, Twitter has change into a scofflaw, stiffing staff, landlords, distributors, and others. Musk doesn’t pay his payments, believes the foundations don’t apply to him, and makes use of his wealth and energy to run roughshod over anybody who disagrees with him,” legal professionals for Agrawal and the opposite ex-executives mentioned within the 38-page criticism.
A spokesperson for X declined to remark. Musk didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail searching for remark.
As quickly as he took over Twitter, Musk fired a number of different top-ranking executives along with Agrawal: Vijaya Gadde, who was the corporate’s high authorized and coverage official; Ned Segal, the chief monetary officer; and Sean Edgett, Twitter’s basic counsel.
The dismissals had been unsurprising on the time. All of these executives had been key gamers for Twitter within the firm’s lawsuit in the summertime of 2022 aimed toward forcing Musk to consummate his buy of the platform after he tried to again out.
Every of the executives was as a result of obtain substantial payouts as a part of Musk’s settlement to purchase the corporate, which included language that will expedite the their unvested inventory awards. Agrawal alone was set to get roughly $50 million in severance payouts.
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In October, Agrawal, Gadde and different former executives gained a ruling from a Delaware decide requiring X to pay $1.1 million in authorized bills they incurred whereas they labored for the corporate.
In early December, X failed in court-ordered mediation to resolve claims by hundreds of former Twitter staff who say they had been cheated of severance pay.
Additionally in December, San Francisco decide rejected X’s request to dismiss a lawsuit by staff claiming they had been denied 2022 bonuses, regardless of being promised within the months main as much as Musk’s acquisition that they’d be paid 50% of their goal quantities.
