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Snapchat says lawsuit from former employee alleging it misled investors on growth has 'no merit'

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By Rebecca Stewart, Trends Editor

January 5, 2017 | 3 min read

A lawsuit filed against Snapchat by a former employee alleging that it faked its growth figures has "no merit" according to the company.

Ex-employee sues Snapchat

Snapchat says lawsuit from former employee alleging it misled investors on growth has 'no merit'

The motion from the ex-staff member, which was first noted by the Hollywood Reporter yesterday, claims that the company has been misleading investors to drive up its forthcoming initial public offering (IPO) and that he was fired for being a whistleblower.

Anthony Pompliano, who was poached by the messaging app from Facebook in September 2015 filed a heavily redacted complaint against the firm earlier this week claiming that he was let go after just three weeks after he learned of "misrepresentations" and urged executives to rectify the problems.

The former staffer is suing the messaging app's parent company Snap Inc for allegedly preventing him from obtaining employment and is seeking an injunction to keep current Snapchat employees from making any claims about his termination to third parties. He is also seeking exemplary damages.

Exactly what metrics Pompliano believes were misrepresented is unclear due to the redactions in the document, however Pompliano's lawyer claims in the filing that the firm "fraudulently induced Pompliano away from Facebook to run Snapchat's new user growth and engagement team by falsely representing to him, among other things, the company's growth."

"Because the truth concerning Mr Pompliano's termination was so potentially damaging to Snapchat's planned IPO, terminating him wasn't enough to ensure the public was kept in the dark," said his lawyer. "Accordingly, post-termination, Snapchat has sought to destroy his career and reputation by waging a smear campaign against Mr. Pompliano, by making false representations concerning the circumstances of his termination."

The case was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.

A spokesperson for Snap Inc said it a statement that the company had reviewed the complaint and “it has no merit. It is totally made up by a disgruntled former employee.”

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