A former employee of Snapchat is suing the company over claims of blackmail and smearing his reputation for uncovering the firm’s efforts to mislead investors, presumably in a bid to increase the value of its upcoming IPO, according to a document filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court of the State of California on Wednesday. Anthony Pompliano worked at Snap Inc for only three weeks after he was laid off because he refused to breach a confidentiality agreement with his former employer Facebook, the plaintiff claims. Pompliano worked at Facebook for a year and now believes he was only poached by Snap as the Californian firm was hoping he’ll be willing to disclose confidential information about Facebook’s operations. Finally, former head of Snap’s user growth and engagement unit is claiming the company’s senior management is falsely representing the circumstances leading to his termination to discredit him due to fears he will damage the company’s upcoming IPO, according to a heavily redacted court document obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
Pompliano alleges Snap’s senior management made a conscious effort to smear his name and destroy his professional reputation as he urged them to stop falsely representing the company’s performance to investors during his time with the Venice-based firm. He claims he filed the lawsuit because he’s adamant to keep his professional reputation. Mary Ritti, the Vice President of Communications at Snap said the company reviewed Pompliano’s lawsuit and concluded it has no basis in reality, adding that it’s “totally made up by a disgruntled former employee.”
Snap has filed for an IPO in November and is expected to go public in March. Seeing how its debut on the US stock market is drawing near, the company is unlikely to be willing to go to court with Pompliano, even if it’s certain that his lawsuit has no merit. Due to that state of affairs, most signs point to this case ending with an out-of-court settlement. It’s currently unknown who replaced Pompliano as the head of Snapchat’s user growth and engagement team. A redacted version of the lawsuit filed on Wednesday can be read at the source link below.