Heir to Homebuilding Company Accuses COO of Orchestrating Twitter Bot Attacks

A dispute between PulteGroup Inc.'s founding family and a high-ranking executive at the homebuilder has been made public with a legal action that accuses the firm's incoming COO of organizing a negative publicity campaign.

On Wednesday, Bill Pulte, who is widely known for his Twitter account where he gives away money to followers, filed a civil complaint in Palm Beach County, Florida. The complaint states that Brandon Jones, recently appointed COO of PulteGroup, has been using a network of Twitter bots to harass and defame the Pulte family.

Pulte, aged 34, has accused Jones of stealing the identity of a deceased individual, pretending to be a business journalist, and using Twitter to contact Detroit newspapers in order to further his campaign. According to Pulte, a Twitter account managed by Jones suggested that a different family member was responsible for arson at the Oakland Hills golf course in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The lawsuit also alleges that Jones falsely accused Pulte of manipulating his grandfather, the founder of PulteGroup. PulteGroup was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Jones did not respond to attempts to contact him through the company or LinkedIn.

PulteGroup has recently become aware of certain social media activity by one of its executives and is now conducting a comprehensive investigation to ascertain the facts and if any of the company's standards and policies have been breached. This was stated in an emailed statement from a spokesperson.

PulteGroup, the third-largest homebuilder in the US, has had a complicated history with its founding family. In 2016, the company's founder, who started the business as a teenager in 1950, called for the dismissal of then-Chief Executive Officer Richard Dugas. This was due to the executive's large land purchases, which had worsened the effects of a prior housing market crash. This dispute eventually drew in the attention of well-known activist investor Elliott Investment Management.

In recent years, Bill Pulte has become involved in a pursuit he calls Twitter Philanthropy. Pulte, who has 3.2 million followers, has been known to send cash to people he meets on Twitter, sometimes for household expenses such as rent, utility bills, or dinner out. He joined the company's board of directors around that time, and the lawsuit claims he was the only one of the founder's descendants to receive an inheritance. Pulte opposed the promotion of Jones to COO in board meetings, and left the board role in 2020. Jones was eventually promoted to COO, with the company announcing in October that he would be elevated to the position at the beginning of the following year. The lawsuit also states that Pulte and his Twitter audience raised more than $2.5 million for the family of a teacher killed in the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

On Tuesday, Pulte posted a tweet expressing his family's support for Elon Musk's Twitter. He also shared a meme of Musk grinning in front of a freshly dug grave with a tombstone that reads: "Bots."