Olivia Cavallaro Tech 09.07.2022 22:Sep PM EDT

Elon Musk Allowed to Cite Twitter Whistleblower Claims, But Can't Delay Trial: Delaware Judge

A judge has ruled to allow the billionaire to use claims from Twitter's ex-security head in the trial, which he cannot delay.

A Delaware court has allowed billionaire Elon Musk to use claims made by Twitter whistleblower and former head of security Pieter Zatko, in an upcoming trial that would decide if the Tesla CEO can walk away from the $44 billion acquisition.

A new filing released on Wednesday revealed that while Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick allowed Musk to use Zatko's claims, she also rejected the billionaire's request to delay the trial, which is set for October 17 and will continue for five days, Engadget reported. Musk's team recently pushed for a mid-November date for the trial but was shut down.

McCormick argued that "the longer the delay until trial, the greater the risk of irreparable harm to Twitter," adding that "even four weeks' delay would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify," CNBC reported.

Musk Requests to Delay Twitter Trial to Investigate Whistleblower's Claims

On Tuesday, Musk's legal team filed a request to delay the trial so that they could further investigate the Twitter whistleblower claims, which accused the social media company of cybersecurity mismanagement and negligence. Zatko, who is also known as "Mudge," is a well-known hacker who was employed by Twitter to lead its security division towards the end of 2020 but was fired less than two years later.

According to TechCrunch, Zatko alleged that he saw "egregious deficiencies, negligence, willful ignorance, and threats to national security and democracy" during his short stint with Twitter. The Twitter whistleblower also filed a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Justice Department on July 6, detailing his experiences and findings in the social media company.

Initially, Musk's case against Twitter was that the company misrepresented the actual number of spam or bot accounts on the social media platform. Now, the Twitter whistleblower claims appear to support Musk's arguments. The upcoming trial will determine if Musk can exit the $44 billion deal without having to pay the $1 billion termination fee, Reuters reported.

Twitter Adamant to Push Through the Deal

Twitter is hoping that the Delaware court would rule in their favor after they sued Musk in July to get him to push through with his proposal to purchase the social media company for $54.20 per share. They accused Musk of changing his mind as inflation soared and global politics intensified after he signed the deal. But Musk said the real reason was due to the discrepancies about the real number of bots and spam accounts on the platform.

On Wednesday, McCormick ordered Musk's team to provide phone records to show that the billionaire did not communicate via text about the $44 billion deal during key periods as the Tesla owner claimed. The judge said there had been "glaring deficiencies" in the text messages Musk submitted to Twitter for the trial.

These text messages are key in proving that Musk is not concerned about spam or bot accounts but was rather worried about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Tesla CEO sent a message to a banker from Morgan Stanley in May, saying that "it won't make sense to buy Twitter if we're heading into World War III."