Elon Musk Claims Twitter Ordered Whistle-Blower to Destroy Evidence

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Just before Elon Musk revived his proposal to buy Twitter Inc. last week, the billionaire accused the company of ordering a whistle-blower to destroy evidence of its missteps as part of a $7.8 million severance package.

Peiter Zatko, Twitter's ex-head of security, said he burned 10 handwritten notebooks and deleted 100 computer files at the behest of company managers as part of his separation agreement, according to Oct. 3 court filings that were unsealed Monday. The books contained notes of the whistle-blower's meetings with company counterparts during his year-long tenure as security chief, the filings show.

Zatko has been at the center of Musk's arguments that Twitter misled him about a raft of operational problems at the social-media platform -- which justified walking away from the $44 billion buyout. The billionaire then reversed course last week and agreed to buy the company for the original $54.20-per-share price.

“Twitter's attempt to buy Mr. Zatko's silence failed, but Twitter achieved its secondary aim of ensuring Mr. Zatko's corroborating evidence would never come to light,” Musk's lawyers said in the unsealed filing.

Twitter didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing, which is part of the Twitter lawsuit to force Musk to consummate the buyout that has since been paused.

Delaware Chancery Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick put the case on hold and set an Oct. 28 deadline for Musk and Twitter to complete the deal. Musk's lawyers are asking McCormick to sanction Twitter's attorneys for ordering the destruction of potential evidence in the case.

Zatko created a stir in Washington when he testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that Twitter's lax approach to computer