Sept 12 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc ( TWTR.N ) said on Monday that payments made to a whistleblower did not violate any terms of its $44 billion takeover by Elon Musk, after the world’s richest man made another attempt to cancel the agreement. In a letter to Twitter on Friday, Musk’s lawyers said Twitter’s failure to seek his consent before paying $7.75 million to whistleblower Peiter Zatko and his lawyers violated the merger agreement, which limits when Twitter could make such payments. Twitter’s lawyers responded on Monday, saying Musk’s reasoning for pulling out of the deal is “invalid and unfair.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Shares of the social networking company fell nearly 2% to $41.37, trading well below Musk’s $54.20 offer price. The letter to Musk’s lawyers comes ahead of a special meeting on Tuesday where Twitter shareholders will vote on the deal. read more Zatko, who was fired by Twitter in January as the company’s chief security officer, accused the social media company last month of falsely claiming it had a solid security plan and making misleading statements about its defenses against hackers and spam accounts. . Musk, who also heads electric car company Tesla Inc ( TSLA.O ), accused Twitter of misrepresenting the prevalence of spam or bot accounts on its platform and sought to end the deal on those grounds. The whistleblower will meet with the US Senate Judiciary Committee on September 13 to discuss the allegations. “With the Musk camp now allowed to include Zatko’s allegations in its Delaware filing, tomorrow’s hearing will be closely watched by the Street,” Wedbush analysts wrote in a note. The Twitter vs. Musk trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 17 in Delaware Chancery Court. Musk’s lawyers were not immediately available for comment. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru. Edited by Anil D’Silva Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
