Musk countersues Twitter over $44 billion deal: Reuters 

Elon Musk countersued Twitter amid his legal battle to abandon a $44 billion takeover of the company, Reuters reported, adding that the lawsuit had been filed confidentially. 

While the document was sealed, a redacted version may be made public soon. 

The lawsuit was filed on Friday, just hours after a five-day trial was ordered to begin on Oct. 17 to decide whether Musk can walk away from the deal, the report said. 

Musk filed on July 8 to withdraw from the deal to acquire Twitter after a disagreement with the company about its percentage of fake accounts. In a filing in May, Twitter had estimated that 5% of its accounts were fake. 

Twitter then sued Musk on July 12 to compel him to buy the platform for about $44 billion, after having accepted his takeover offer in late April.