The ex-employee who sued Snapchat for allegedly inflating metrics wants ‘whistleblower’ protection and a trial by jury (SNAP)

pulse

May 16, 2017 1:55 PM

Former Snap employee Anthony Pompliano has escalated his lawsuit against the company to federal court. He claims that Snap lied to investors ahead of its IPO.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.

A former employee who claims Snap Inc. lied to investors ahead of its initial public offering has escalated his lawsuit against the company and is seeking protection under whistleblower laws.

Anthony Pompliano, who served as Snap's growth lead for three weeks in 2015, is transferring his suit against the company from state to federal court, demanding a trial by jury and seeking damages of at least $10 million, according to a complaint seen by Business Insider that was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Pompliano's lawsuit names Spiegel, Snap Director of Revenue Brian Theisen, and Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan as defendants.

Additionally, Pompliano is filing for protection under the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank finance reform law. Those provisions apply to company employees who have come forward with information under the reasonable belief that their company committed fraud against shareholders.

Pompliano first sued the app-maker in January for allegedly "falsely misrepresenting" several key user metrics to outside investors. He also claimed that Snap conducted a "smear campaign to ruin his career" after he was fired.

Many of the details surrounding Pompliano's tumultuous three-week tenure at Snap were revealed when the company said it had "nothing to hide" and unredacted his original complaint in April. But his new, 45-page complaint includes slides from a presentation he claims to have given Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and other executives about the company's need to address its conflated app metrics.

Here are a few of Pompliano's key allegations:

Snap has disparaged Pompliano's allegations in public statements and court filings, calling him a "disgruntled former employee" whose claims are "without merit." The company faced heated criticism after Pompliano's complaint revealed that Spiegel had allegedly said Snapchat was "only for rich people" and he didn't "want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain." Snap has called the alleged comment "ridiculous."

Here's Pompliano's full complaint against Snap that was filed in court Tuesday:

pulse