Lawyers for Elon Musk sent another letter to Twitter on Friday in their latest attempt to call off the $44 billion deal for the world’s richest man to buy the social media platform, claiming a severance payment given to a Twitter whistleblower violated his agreement with the company.
The letter stated a $7.75 million agreement Twitter entered into with Peiter Zatko in June broke the terms of Musk’s deal since Twitter allegedly did not contact Musk or seek his consent.
Zatko, Twitter’s former head of security, claimed there were “dangerous data privacy and security risks” ignored by company leadership, prompting regulatory concerns in the U.S. and Europe.
Musk’s lawyers sent a separate termination notice to Twitter on August 29, saying if Zatko’s allegations are true there would be “material, if not existential, consequences” for the company.
Musk has been trying to terminate the deal since July 8, citing concerns about the number of bots and fake accounts that populate Twitter.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.