Another day, another Elon Musk legal dispute. On Monday, four former Twitter executives filed a lawsuit against Musk, claiming they were due more than $128 million in severance pay. Among them was former CEO Parag Agrawal.
One of Musk’s first actions as the company’s owner after purchasing Twitter (now X) was to fire Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and attorneys Sean Edgett and Vijaya Gadde. The lawsuit claims that Musk harbors “special ire” for these former executives because they exerted a great deal of effort to keep Musk to his $44 billion pledge when he attempted to back out. Elon Musk’s biography by Walter Isaacson, which is cited in the lawsuit, states that Musk would “hunt every single one” of Twitter’s C-suite “till the day they die.”
Gadde in particular, who was involved in a number of well-publicized Twitter content moderation decisions, has drawn harsh criticism from Musk. Following his bid to purchase Twitter, he made fun of the executive with memes, which led to a barrage of hateful comments directed at her on the internet.
Not just these executives are devoid of their severance benefits. A number of lawsuits from former Twitter employees who are also awaiting payment have been filed against Musk. The business has stopped paying the rent on some of its offices while it is owned by Musk, which has prompted additional lawsuits and evictions.
In the lawsuit, Musk asserted that these executives had engaged in “willful misconduct” and “gross negligence” in their letters of termination, but he was never able to provide proof to support his claims.
“This is the Musk playbook: to keep the money he owes other people, and force them to sue him,” the lawsuit reads. “Even in defeat, Musk can impose delay, hassle, and expense on others less able to afford it.”
