Snap fires back at ex-employee who alleged it inflated its numbers pre-IPO

Reuters

Snap is calling a fired employee's lawsuit a "late-breaking bid" to air "sensationalist allegations" as the company prepares for long-awaited IPO, according to a new court filing. 

In early January, Snap's former growth lead Anthony Pompliano filed a lawsuit that alleged the company had been "falsely misrepresenting" itself, that he was hired away from Facebook so that Snap could gain confidential information on a rival, and that he was fired under false pretenses after raising concerns about Snap's growth metrics.

Snap Inc., as Snapchat is now called, denied the allegations in a new court filing.

In a court filing, dated January 18, the company said Pompliano's "allegations against Snap are false from top to bottom and right out of his allege-fraud-against-former-employers playbook."

Pompliano accused Snapchat of damaging his reputation and hindering his efforts to find a job after working at the company. But Snap says that it couldn't have done such a thing given that Pompliano did in fact obtain a job at another social media company shortly after he left. And Snap said that Pompliano sued that company too, in March 2016. (That suit against Brighten Labs Inc. is related to fraud and failure to pay wages).

Snap also disputed the allegations that it had misrepresented its growth metrics to investors. "He provides no support for these allegations — unsurprising because he worked at Snap for three weeks, was not on the executive team, and did not even interact with investors," Snap's filing states.

Now, the company on the brink of a $20 billion IPO wants the court to return the case to arbitration, arguing it was brought unfairly. Pompliano's lawyer did not respond to request for comment.

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