Shareholders of social media giant, Twitter, have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on grounds of “unlawful conduct” aimed at sowing doubt about his intention to finalise the acquisition deal on the company.

According to ABC News, the lawsuit filed late Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California claims the billionaire sought to manipulate Twitter’s stock price in order to find reasons to terminate the takeover deal or re-negotiate lower prices.

It should be recalled that the Tesla CEO had offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion, on April 25, making it one of the largest buyouts in history. The deal was however stalled on the condition that the company provides information about how many accounts on the platform are spam or bots.

According to the suit, the problem of bots and fake accounts on Twitter is nothing new and Musk was well aware of this before making an offer for the acquisition.

The suit also claimed that the manipulation had worked as the company’s market value has now plunged by $8 billion, representing nearly a third of its value.

The defendants are now seeking compensation for damages