Twitter's former top execs are suing the company for $1 million

Twitter’s former top execs – who were fired by Elon Musk on his first day in charge – are suing the tech giant for over $1 MILLION in unpaid legal bills

• Former Twitter executives who were immediately fired by Elon Musk on his first day in charge are suing for more than $1million over unpaid legal fees
• Its former chief executive Parag Agrawal, former chief financial officer Ned Segal and former head of legal and policy Vijaya Gadde are plaintiffs in the case
• They spent more than $1million in personal legal bills related to government investigations, SEC inquiries and shareholder lawsuits 

A group of former Twitter executives who were fired by Elon Musk on his first day in charge are suing the company for more than $1million over unpaid legal bills.

The lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court, Monday is on behalf of the social media network’s former chief executive Parag Agrawal, its former chief financial officer Ned Segal and former head of legal and policy Vijaya Gadde.

They spent more than $1million in personal legal bills related to government investigations, including by the Department of Justice, inquiries by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and shareholder lawsuits.

The trio, who were fired by Musk when he bought Twitter for $44billion in October, racked up ‘significant expenses’ related to their former positions.

They claim the company has ‘refused to acknowledge its obligations and to remit payment of any invoices’.

Parag Agrawal (pictured) is part of a trio of former Twitter executives who are suing the company for more than $1million over unpaid legal reimbursements

Former chief financial officer Ned Segal (pictured) was contacted by the justice department in 2022 ‘regarding certain investigations related to the company’, according to the lawsuit

Vijaya Gadde (pictured), former head of legal and policy at Twitter, was forced to pay legal fees related to her February testimony in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

The justice department contacted counsel for Agrawal and Segal in 2022 ‘regarding certain investigations related to the company’, according to the lawsuit.

But the nature of the probe and whether it is still active is unknown.

The pair also incurred legal expenses responding to inquiries by the SEC in 2022, the lawsuit states.

The SEC has been investigating whether Musk breached securities regulations by failing to make timely disclosures when he bought a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter early last year.

Agrawal and Segal were contacted by federal authorities in July while still in their roles at Twitter and in September the SEC asked Agrawal to preserve documents.

They are also named with Gadde in a shareholder lawsuit and she was forced to pay legal fees related to her February testimony in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

She was subpoenaed to appear in front of the committee and it focused on Twitter’s decision to briefly censor a New York Post story about the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop.

The lawsuit said Twitter’s corporate bylaws and its contracts with former executives require it to pay their legal fees in matters related to the social media company.

And the former executives notified Twitter of the expenses incurred more than two months ago but they are yet to be reimbursed.

Elon Musk fired Agrawal, Segal and Gadde ‘for cause’ last year which voided the large severance payouts they were expected to get

Agrawal (left) and Segal (right) racked up ‘significant expenses’ related to their former positions

Twitter has been accused of refusing to pay bills owed to landlords, suppliers and vendors as well as missing payment which has led to lawsuits

Aaron Zamost, a spokesman for Segal and Gadde, said: ‘Once again, Twitter has failed to honor its contractual obligations to pay its bills.’

Musk has aggressively cut costs relating to Twitter since he took over and fired more than 75 per cent of its 7,500 employees.

He terminated Agrawal, Segal and Gadde ‘for cause’ last year which voided the large severance payouts they were expected to get, which would have amounted to nearly $60million for Agrawal.

It is not known if the former executives plan to challenge this in court.

Twitter has been accused of refusing to pay bills owed to landlords, suppliers and vendors as well as missing payments to software services, real estate management firms and janitorial contractors which has led to lawsuits.

Musk told employees in an email last month that he valued Twitter at $20billion which is less than half of what he paid for it.

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