What Twitter’s Subpoenas to Elon Musk’s Inner Circle Could Yield

It is standard in such merger disputes to seek information from financial institutions backing the stalled deal. But lawyers and academics say that because Mr. Musk was acquiring the company as an individual, those close to him, including friends and advisers, are fair game as potential sources of information about his intentions.

“A single email could be decisive, increasing the chances of winning,” said Stephen Gillers, a professor at New York University School of Law.

The subpoenas requested information and documents, including face-to-face conversations, physical mail, emails, text messages, instant messages, social-media contacts, facsimiles and phone conversations, according to court documents.

Those who received notices include venture investor

Steve Jurvetson,

an early Tesla investor who once served on the auto maker’s board, and

Marc Andreessen,

whose venture firm Andreessen Horowitz committed $800 million to Mr. Musk’s takeover. Entrepreneur David Sacks noted his subpoena on Twitter, posting an image of a middle finger. Mr. Sacks is among a close-knit group of activists and businessmen who encouraged Mr. Musk to get involved in Twitter, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Sacks declined to comment on the subpoena. Messrs. Jurvetson and Andreessen didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Venture-capital investor

Joe Lonsdale

also noted his subpoena on Twitter and called it “a giant harassing fishing expedition.” Mr. Lonsdale said he had nothing to do with the Twitter-Musk situation “aside from a few snarky comments.” He didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Twitter alleges in its lawsuit that Mr. Musk violated their merger agreement by misusing confidential information, disparaging the company and failing to make efforts to consummate the transaction. Twitter’s lawyers are expected to point to tweets that Mr. Musk posted and to leverage data and communications from the subpoena process, legal experts say.

“They are fishing for anything they can to discredit his claims through whatever he told friends, colleagues and investors,” said

Charles Elson,

a corporate-governance professor at the University of Delaware.

Twitter declined to comment on the subpoenas or its legal strategy. The five-day trial is scheduled to start Oct. 17 in Delaware Chancery Court.

Mr. Musk has cited doubts about Twitter’s counting of fake and spam accounts for why he wants to walk away. He has said Twitter didn’t provide the necessary data and information he needs to assess the prevalence of such accounts and raised questions about Twitter’s methods.

Twitter said in court filings that it provided Mr. Musk with the information he requested. The company has long estimated that fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily users represent fake accounts. Mr. Musk said the number is probably much higher, closer to 20%.

Mr. Musk’s attorneys didn’t respond to requests for comment on the subpoenas or their legal strategy. Mr. Musk officially responded to Twitter’s lawsuit last week and included counterclaims, but the full details aren’t known yet because they are sealed while Twitter reviews them for any sensitive information.

Twitter also sent subpoenas to at least a dozen banks including Deutsche Bank AG, seeking information on equity and debt financing and communications around the deal. A bank spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Banks and investors are usually called upon to provide documentation about transactions, but the broader inner circle isn’t as typical, said Brian Quinn, who teaches about mergers and acquisitions at Boston College Law School.

Legal filings from Twitter show that the company is asking, among other things, for any documents and communications relating to fake or spam accounts—which Mr. Musk has referred to as bots.

“They will look for details about roles the bots played. Are they just a convenient hook?” Mr. Quinn said. “What they suspect is that Musk got cold feet.”

Observers say the company is looking for communication that would support its argument that Mr. Musk is balking because he lost more than $100 billion of his wealth amid the market downturn. Mr. Musk pledged as much as $33 billion of his own money toward the deal.

Twitter also might be trying with the flurry of subpoenas to retrace Mr. Musk’s steps since he agreed to the deal, to show he didn’t put in reasonable effort to complete it, said William Newman, a senior counsel at a New York litigation firm.

Twitter has lost billions in market value since Mr. Musk unveiled his all-cash offer to buy the platform on April 25. Twitter shares closed at $40.98 Tuesday, a discount of 24% to Mr. Musk’s offer price of $54.20 a share.

—Berber Jin and Heather Somerville contributed to this article.

Write to Erin Mulvaney at [email protected] and Sarah E. Needleman at [email protected]