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Four ex-Twitter executives have initiated a lawsuit against the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, claiming he failed to disburse over $128 million in severance payments after their dismissal p

The lawsuit, led by former CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, former head of legal, policy, and trust Vijaya Gadde, and former acting general counsel Sean Edgett, seeks severance benefits alongside compensation for legal fees and interest. Filed in the USDistrict Court for the Northern District of California, their claim hinges on the assertion that their contracts promised severance if Twitter ceased to be a public entity, which occurred following Musk’s privatization of the company in October 2022.

The plaintiffs argue that Musk, in his efforts to avoid severance payments, intentionally manufactured reasons for their termination. Citing Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk, the lawsuit alleges Musk confessed to a strategy of creating “cause” to sidestep financial obligations. The lawsuit further alleges Musk was motivated by revenge against the executives for opposing his takeover bid, quoting Musk’s threat to “hunt every single one of” them indefinitely.

According to the complaint, Musk’s actions were driven by a desire to withhold severance under false pretenses, fabricating claims of “gross negligence” and “willful misconduct” without evidence to justify their firings. The termination, they argue, was aimed at interfering with their rights to benefits, a move described in the lawsuit as a combination of personal vendetta and financial penny-pinching by Musk.

X (formerly Twitter) has yet to respond to the allegations.