Bill Pulte, best known for his famous Twitter philanthropy, has launched a lawsuit against the former COO of PulteGroup Inc., the home building company founded by Pulte’s identically named grandfather.
In his lawsuit, Pulte claims that ex-COO Brandon Jones ran a sophisticated bot farm network on Twitter for the purpose of disparaging Pulte, his family, and his grandfather – PulteGroup Inc.’s founder – who died in 2018.
A statement posted to the family’s website claims Jones uses “fake profiles” that include “AI-generated profiles” of both men and women, a “fictitious business journalist” covering PulteGroup, “numerous pseudonyms and identities,” and interestingly, the identity of a man who died in 2018.
One account, Raymond Hutchinson, allegedly “uses the image and profile of deceased Raymond Porter” to harass Pulte and his family.
Pulte also alleges that Jones engaged with adult-themed Twitter accounts despite company policy explicitly forbidding such behavior.
Letter to CEO Ryan Marshall @ryamarsh:
Brandon Jones fired over defamatory Twitter Bots
1. Do not punish Employees or their social media.
2. Management must have same rules as them.
3. Waiting for apology. Independent investigation now that internal probe is done? $PHM
— Pulte (@pulte) December 16, 2022
Responding to this claim, Pulte said in a statement that Jones “was extremely calculated in his creation and operation of his malicious bot network, going to such extreme lengths as stealing the identity or photo of a Mr. Ray Porter, a deceased man in Kentucky.” He described the alleged behavior as “sick” and noted that he stepped down from the company’s board in 2020.
Jones is apparently motivated by a longtime feud between him and members of the Pulte family, according to the Pulte family’s statement:
Bill Pulte, a former independent member of the Board of Directors of PulteGroup, took this action, he said, in order to “protect the legacy of Pulte Homes, my grandfather who was my mentor and partner, as well as my own reputation and to prevent Jones from doing irreparable harm through his continued spreading of vicious lies.” He believes that Jones held an eight-year grudge dating back to when the Pulte duo took on executives at the company ousting Jones’ boss, former CEO Richard Dugas in 2016. Bill Pulte also led the opposition to the expedited promotion of Jones in late 2018, winning unanimous board approval in blocking CEO Ryan Marshall’s request.
Jones was terminated by PulteGroup after the lawsuit was filed, but now Pulte is calling for a third party investigation into the company:
Now that the preliminary investigation (done by King & Spalding LLP) determined that the Bot Attacks were covertly operated by Brandon Jones, The Pulte Family expects the Board of Directors to honor their fiduciary obligations to the shareholders and retain an white-shoe law firm, unconnected to existing contracts paid by Management, to conduct an independent investigation to determine which SEC regulations, federal law, and other company policies were molested. This addresses existing liabilities hidden from shareholders.
Further complicating matters for PulteGroup, the eldest son of its deceased founder issued a strong endorsement of Pulte:
I was shocked and angered to read about the harassment and smear campaign launched against my nephew Bill Pulte, my Father and members of my family. During my life I watched my dad, William J. Pulte, take his small local building company and then transformed it into a Fortune 500 company. During my dad’s later years he developed a special bond of trust and confidence with my nephew. I know his wish was to have my nephew Bill Pulte take an integral part in maintaining the success of Pulte Homes.
Though the lawsuit is likely months away from being resolved, it appears PulteGroup is unwilling to assume the liability of Jones, should Pulte’s claims be proven accurate.
Pulte’s attorneys have also notified the company’s general counsel, Todd Sheldon, to preserve documents related to Sheldon’s personal Twitter account, which was apparently deleted after Pulte contacted the board of directors this week.
The philanthropist noted, “That deletion was very odd.”