Parag Agrawal and Vijaya Gadde are suing Elon Musk; Know why?

Elon Musk fired three senior executives when he took over the social media platform. The company's then-CEO Parag Agrawal, policy chief Vijaya Gadde, and CFO Nel Segal were ousted from their positions the next day after Musk took office. As it turns out, they have all filed lawsuits against Musk, demanding reimbursement for the costs of litigation, investigations, and consultations related to their previous jobs. Agrawal and Twitter's former chief legal and financial officers claim in the lawsuit that they are owed more than $1 million, which Twitter is legally required to pay.

According to the AFP report, the court filing listed various expenses associated with investigations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). However, it did not reveal the investigation's nature or if they are still ongoing. Agrawal and ex-CFO Ned Segal testified before the SEC last year and have continued interacting with federal authorities. The SEC is analysing whether Musk complied with securities rules when he bought Twitter shares.

Former Twitter chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde has participated in a US congressional hearing on big tech and free speech after Musk published "Twitter Files" related to the moderation of the site's content. Gadde was also mentioned in a lawsuit by a man who claimed he was "misled" on Twitter as a white supremacist.

Agrawal, Gadde and Segal were fired from their positions by Elon Musk in late October after his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. The three former executives maintain that Twitter is obliged to reimburse them, but the company has only acknowledged receiving their invoices.

Although Agarwal had to step down in just 10 months, he left a wealthy man behind. Parag Agrawal reportedly had the golden parachute clause in his contract with Twitter and owned some shares in the company. As per a Twitter filing with the SEC in the US, Parag owns just over 128,000 shares of Twitter, now worth around $7 million at the price Musk pays. So Agrawal probably received a severance pay of close to $50 million.

After taking over Twitter, Musk removed over 75 per cent of Twitter's workforce, raising concerns about the platform's ability to combat misinformation and other abuses. Twitter has also faced accusations of not paying rent or other expenses as Musk makes good on his promise to "cut costs like crazy." Meanwhile, market watchers believe Twitter ad revenue has declined amid concerns about the rampant spread of misinformation and hateful content as Musk scales back moderation efforts.