Twitter’s Former Trio of Top Execs Sue Platform for Unpaid Fees

The social-media company has been sued by three former Twitter executives seeking reimbursement for more than $1 million in legal expenses related to a shareholder lawsuit and inquiries from a variety of sources, including the federal government.

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Agrawal, a former chief executive of Twitter, Vijaya Gadde, a former chief legal officer of Twitter, and Ned Segal, formerly the chief financial officer of Twitter, filed the lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery on Monday. Also named in the lawsuit are the three former chief executives of Twitter: Agrawal, Gadde, and Segal. Approximately six months ago, Elon Musk fired some of the top executives at Twitter as a result of his decision to close his acquisition of the social media company.

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The complaint filed by Messrs. Agrawal and Segal and Ms. Gadde states that, in the event that the company is to be sued as a result of their corporate roles, the company is still obliged to cover its legal expenses. They claim that a lawsuit has been filed against them by shareholders and inquiries have been received by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department concerning their corporate roles.

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It appears that lawyers for the former executives tried to request payment in January and again in March for expenses incurred as a result of investigating factual allegations, researching legal theories, developing defenses, and other legal matters as outlined in their lawsuit.

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Essentially, this suit represents another instance in which Twitter has been accused of having overdue payments since Musk took control of the company and slashed costs as fast as he could. It has emerged that a number of landlords, consultants, and vendors have sued for payment of rent, though several of these lawsuits have been dismissed as a result, according to court records.

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"For the second time in a row, Twitter has failed to meet its contractual obligations to pay its bills," said Aaron Zamost, a spokesman for Ms. Gadde and Mr. Segal. He declined to provide any further comment. In an attempt to get in touch with Mr. Agrawal, he was unable to do so. In response to an emailed request for comment, Twitter responded with an auto-reply of the emoji poop in response to the request.

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In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Twitter has been sued for not covering the legal fees associated with proceedings related to the former executives' roles with the company, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was previously reported by the New York Times. The company Twitter was founded in Delaware in 2003 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

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Several legal proceedings were incurred by the executives, including the shareholder lawsuit and the subpoena that was issued to Ms. Gadde by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to testify during a congressional hearing in February. Gadde appeared at the congressional hearing in February and incurred legal expenses as a result.

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In addition to that, counsel for Messrs. Agrawal and Segal was contacted by representatives of the Justice Department last year regarding certain investigations related to Twitter, according to the lawsuit filed by Messrs. Agrawal and Segal. The complaint does not provide any details about the inquiry that is being conducted. In the complaint, it is also stated that Mr. Agrawal had also been asked by the SEC to preserve certain documents regarding his work at Twitter.

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Several top Twitter executives were fired shortly after Mr. Musk closed the deal, including Mr. Agrawal, Ms. Gadde, Mr. Segal, and former general counsel Sean Edgett, according to a previous report by Trade Algo. Despite being named in the lawsuit filed on Monday, Mr. Edgett has not been named in the suit.

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Musk said at the time that he fired these executives without cause and did not have to offer them the multimillion-dollar severance packages that had been expected at the time, according to Trade Algo.