Former Twitter employees, including ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, ex-head legal Vijaya Gadde and ex-CFO Ned Segal, have sued the social network over alleged unpaid legal fees.
The lawsuit, filed in the Delaware Chancery Court, alleged that Twitter must pay more than $1 million to the former executives for legal bills they incurred while at the company to respond to requests from the Justice and Securities Department. and Exchange Commission.
“This action seeks an expedited ruling requiring the defendant to comply with its obligations to advance legal fees and expenses related to pending litigation and investigations,” the lawsuit said.
The document lists a number of legal battles and government investigations that these executives have been involved in as defendants over the years. The plaintiffs wrote to Twitter several times demanding the refund, but they received only acknowledgments in response, the document added.
The filing states that Twitter “breached the agreements [with employees] and contrary to the statutes” by not paying the former employees.
After Elon Musk took over Twitter last October, he immediately fired Agrawal, Gadde and Segal. At the time, Bloomberg reported that these execs had an exit package of more than $100 million.
Twitter has become the subject of multiple lawsuits after Musk took ownership. These include cases of former employees and contractors alleging that the company fired them without adequate notice and of several suppliers accusing the company of failing to pay bills on time.
The social media company is also embroiled in a legal battle in Germany, where authorities are seeking to fine Twitter for failing to remove hate speech. Under the country’s Network Enforcement Act (also known as NetzDG), companies can be fined up to €50 million for breaking the rules.
Aside from Gadde, Twitter has lost a few legal heads in recent months, including James Baker in December and Christian Dowell earlier this month.