Elon Musk’s Twitter was sued by a private jet provider for refusing to pay for two flights taken by former chief marketing officer Leslie Berland as Mr Musk was preparing to close his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform.
Private Jet Services Group claims it is owed $197,725 for Berland’s October 26 flight from Teterboro, New Jersey, to San Francisco and a return flight the following day — the same day Mr Musk closed the deal to buy Twitter.
Ms Berland was fired in early November, along with about half the workforce at the company.
According to a contract PJS had with Twitter, a designated representative at the social media company was required to book charters, but the flight service company said that practice wasn’t always followed and flights were booked by e-mails and text messages, and paid without issue prior to Mr Musk’s takeover.
But after Mr Musk’s acquisition, the company refused to pay the bills for Ms Berland’s flights, with Marty O’Neill, head of global strategic sourcing at Twitter, claiming in an email that they weren’t ordered by the designated representative, according to a complaint filed on Friday in federal court in New Hampshire.
Twitter employee Taylor DeLorenzo replied to Mr O’Neill in an email cited in the complaint.
“Just wanted to send a quick note with regards to the outstanding invoice for PJS: Parag [Agrawal] did sign off on this expense [he was still CEO at the time of both flight purchases] for Leslie. It was an urgent need the week the deal closed, and Leslie was the main person from Twitter liaising directly with Elon," he wrote.
But that didn’t sway the new management.
“Thanks Taylor, appreciate the added context,” Mr O’Neill replied, according to another email cited in the complaint. “However, new management is not going to budge.”
Twitter didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
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Gigi Hadid has deactivated her Twitter account following Elon Musk's takeover of the platform, saying 'it's becoming more and more of a cesspool of hate and bigotry with the new leadership'. AFP -
Whoopi Goldberg said she was getting off Twitter because 'it’s so messy'. AP -
Producer Shonda Rhimes quit the platform days after Elon Musk took over. Reuters -
Actor and filmmaker Alex Winter's account has also been deactivated. AFP -
Grammy-winning singer Sara Bareilles said Twitter was no longer for her. AP -
Actor Amber Heard, who once dated Elon Musk, has also deactivated her account. AP -
Singer Toni Braxton, who has also quit, said she was not comfortable with 'hate speech under the veil of free speech'. Alamy Stock Photo -
Comedian Kathy Griffin's Twitter account was suspended after she changed her name to 'Elon Musk'. GC Images -
'Avengers' star Mark Ruffalo has pleaded with Elon Musk to 'get off Twitter and get on with running Tesla and SpaceX'. AP
