Twitter shareholders are suing Tesla owner for manipulating social media platform for personal gains. They claim his actions had the sole purpose of driving Twitter's share prices down. The complaint states: "As detailed herein, Musk’s conduct was and continues to be illegal, in violation of the California Corporations Code, and contrary to the contractual terms he agreed to in the deal."
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Elon Musk is facing a lawsuit over his bid to buy Twitter. The Tesla owner is facing lawsuits from shareholders after getting accused of manipulative behavior for personal gain.
According to The Verge, the lawsuit was filed in the federal district court in San Francisco.
As per the complaint, the SpaceX founder's behavior was manipulative and intentional after he made a deal to purchase the social media giant.
They claim his actions had the sole purpose of driving Twitter's share prices down.
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"Musk proceeded to make statements, send tweets, and engage in conduct designed to create doubt about the deal and drive Twitter’s stock down substantially in order to create leverage that Musk hoped to use to either back out of the purchase or re-negotiate the buyout price," legal documents claim.
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The lawsuit also points to Musk's recent statement on the Twitter deal
The complaint continues: "As detailed herein, Musk’s conduct was and continues to be illegal, in violation of the California Corporations Code, and contrary to the contractual terms he agreed to in the deal."
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The Tesla owner took to Twitter to share that the deal 'cannot move forward' until the current CEO provides data on bot accounts on the platform.
"20 per cent fake/spam accounts, while four times what Twitter claims, [the real number] could be much higher," Musk said.
"My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate."
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The Verge reports the lawsuit is a proposed class action that has been put forward by a small group of shareholders.
If the shareholders win the lawsuit, the damages would be distributed amongst those holding the Twitter shares.
At time of writing, Twitter shares sat at $39.52 ($AU 55.66, £31.33) each. The deal struck between Musk and Twitter was agreed at $54.20 per share.
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Well, the Twitter saga is the latest addition to the billionaire's stock woes.
Reportedly, Tesla stocks have plummeted nearly half their value since their peak in November last year following a tumultuous six months for Elon Musk's electric car company.
Since November, the stocks have dropped by more than half a trillion dollars.
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Tesla's massive loss comes in contrast to CEO Elon Musk's staggering personal high in November as his personal net worth surpassed $300 billion ($AU 422 billion, £239 billion).
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Elon Musk is the first person in the world to achieve this level of wealth.
The Tesla owner's worth has plummeted to a measly $209 billion ($AU 294 billion, £166 billion).
This share price drop comes few days after the SpaceX owner addressed the sexual harassment rumors.
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