Twitter reached a $7 million settlement with its former top security executive, Peiter Zatko, in June, after he was fired from the company and had raised concerns about its security practices.

Lawyers for Elon Musk, who is trying to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, disclosed the settlement during a court hearing on Tuesday. During the hearing, Mr. Musk’s lawyers successfully argued that Mr. Zatko’s accusations that Twitter had misrepresented its security practices be included in the case over the deal.

“They’re paying the guy $7 million and making sure he’s quiet,” Alex Spiro, an attorney for Mr. Musk, said during the hearing.