'Tactic to shroud the truth': Elon Musk seeks to delay the start of Twitter court battle

Washington, USEdited By: Srishti Singh SisodiaUpdated: Jul 16, 2022, 06:28 AM IST

Musk accuses Twitter of fraud, alleging that the firm has "misled" him about the number of accounts that are actually spam or automated "bots" instead of real people. Photograph:(Reuters)

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Musk vs Twitter: The Twitter deal, which was once appearing to be a historic business deal, is now expected to be a major legal showdown between Twitter and Musk

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk filed a motion on Friday (July 15) to oppose Twitter's request to fast-track a trial. Twitter sued Musk for breaching the $44 billion contract he had signed to buy the tech firm. Twitter has asked a Delaware court to order Musk to complete the merger at the agreed $54.20 per Twitter share.

In the latest development, Musk's lawyers have said that the trial should be rejected in Twitter's "unjustifiable request" to rush the merger case to trial in two months, the papers filed with the Delaware Chancery Court showed.

The Twitter deal, which was once appearing to be a historic business deal, is now expected to be a major legal showdown between Twitter and Musk.

Musk's filing said: "Twitter's sudden request for warp speed after two months of foot-dragging and obfuscation is its latest tactic to shroud the truth about spam accounts long enough to railroad defendants into closing."

The San Francisco-based company argued that no financial damages could repair the damage he has caused after Musk said he would not complete the deal. Recently, Twitter attorneys in a letter told Musk's lawyers that the micro-blogging site has breached none of its obligations under the agreement.

All of this started when Musk sent a letter to Twitter saying he was pulling out of the controversial deal he made in April to buy the platform for $54.20 per share, or $44 billion in total.