According to a lawsuit filed in L.A. Superior Court by former employee Anthony Pompliano, Snapchat has been faking its growth numbers in order to boost its value in an upcoming IPO. Pompliano, Snapchat’s “growth lead”, says he was hired away from his position at Facebook to provide confidential and proprietary information about Facebook’s systems and was subsequently fired, after only three weeks on the job, for blowing the whistle on the company’s growth misrepresentations with several higher-ups. Per Variety:
“Snapchat’s leadership saw Mr. Pompliano as an impediment to their planned IPO because he refused to turn a blind eye to Snapchat’s misrepresentations,” the lawsuit alleges.
Pompliano also alleges that after he was fired, Snapchat set about smearing his reputation.
“His opportunities have been compromised significantly,” said Pompliano’s attorney, David Michaels. “He’s had difficulty securing employment. It would be a red flag to an employer that you were there for three weeks and were terminated. We believe when they make the inquiry to Snapchat, they hear a bunch of lies.”
While much of the lawsuit it blacked out, it seemingly points out specific metrics that were allegedly misrepresented in the company’s IPO documentation.
The lawsuit goes on to allege that Pompliano was fired after he was deemed to be “an impediment to their planned IPO” and after repeatedly refusing to violate the terms of his confidentiality and non-solicitation agreements signed with Facebook.
The full lawsuit, which unfortunately will not automatically self destruct after 3 seconds, can be viewed below:
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