Twitter to depose Elon Musk ahead of buyout deal trial

Twitter's lawyers will question Elon Musk next week as they gather evidence in a legal battle to hold him to his $44 billion buyout deal, a Tuesday court filing said.

The Tesla chief will be deposed under oath for two days and maybe even a third if needed, in sessions that are to be recorded by "stenographic, sound and visual means," according to the filing.

Musk's deposition is set to take place privately in law offices, and comes as part of an evidence gathering phase ahead of a five-day trial scheduled to begin October 17 in the Court of Chancery in the state of Delaware.

The long list of those being asked for documents or to answer questions in the case includes Twitter co-founder and former chief Jack Dorsey, who was to be deposed Tuesday by Musk's lawyers.

Musk, the world's richest man, said in a letter in April that he was canceling the deal because he was misled by Twitter concerning the number of bot accounts on its platform, allegations rejected by the company.

He later added accusations made in a whistleblower complaint made by a former head of security at Twitter to his reasons for walking away from the deal.

Twitter has stood by its assessment of user numbers, and portrayed the whistleblower as a "disgruntled former employee" whose allegations are without merit.

© 2022 AFP