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The personal and business legal affairs of Elon Musk encompass the legal cases involving businessman Elon Musk as the plaintiff, defendant, or concerning his companies.
In 2018, Musk was sued by the SEC for a tweet stating that funding had been secured for potentially taking Tesla private. [1] [a] The lawsuit characterized the tweet as false, misleading, and damaging to investors, and sought to bar Musk from serving as CEO of publicly traded companies. [1] [5] [6] Two days later, Musk settled with the SEC, without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations. As a result, Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each, and Musk was forced to step down for three years as Tesla chairman but was able to remain as CEO. [7] Shareholders filed a lawsuit over the tweet, [8] and in February 2023, a jury found Musk and Tesla not liable. [9] Musk has stated in interviews that he does not regret posting the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation. [10] [11]
In 2019, Musk stated in a tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars that year. [12] The SEC reacted by asking a court to hold him in contempt for violating the terms of the 2018 settlement agreement. A joint agreement between Musk and the SEC eventually clarified the previous agreement details, [13] including a list of topics about which Musk needed preclearance. [14] In 2020, a judge blocked a lawsuit that claimed a tweet by Musk regarding Tesla stock price ("too high imo") violated the agreement. [15] [16] Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-released records showed that the SEC concluded Musk had subsequently violated the agreement twice by tweeting regarding "Tesla's solar roof production volumes and its stock price". [17]
In July 2018, Musk arranged for his employees to build a mini-submarine to assist the rescue of children trapped in a flooded cavern in Thailand. [18] Richard Stanton, leader of the international rescue diving team, encouraged Musk to facilitate the construction of the vehicle as a backup in case flooding worsened. However, Stanton concluded that the mini-submarine would not work and said that Musk's involvement "distracted from the rescue effort". [19] Engineers at SpaceX and the Boring Company built the mini-submarine from a Falcon 9 liquid oxygen transfer tube in eight hours and personally delivered it to Thailand. [20] [21] Thai authorities ultimately declined to use the submarine, stating that it was not practical for the rescue mission. [18] [22] In March 2019, Musk was one of the 187 people who received various honors conferred by the King of Thailand for involvement in the rescue effort. [23]
Soon after the rescue, Vernon Unsworth, a British recreational caver who had been exploring the cave for the previous six years and played a key advisory role in the operation, criticized the submarine on CNN as amounting to nothing more than a public relations effort with no chance of success, maintaining that Musk "had no conception of what the cave passage was like" and "can stick his submarine where it hurts". Musk asserted on Twitter that the device would have worked and referred to Unsworth as a "pedo guy". [24] He then deleted the tweets, [24] apologized, [25] and deleted his responses to critical tweets from Cher Scarlett, a software engineer, which had caused his followers to harass her. [26] In an email to BuzzFeed News , Musk later called Unsworth a "child rapist" and said that he had married a child. [27] [28]
In September, Unsworth filed a defamation suit seeking $190 million in damages. [29] [30] [31] In his defense, Musk argued that "'pedo guy' was a common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up ... synonymous with 'creepy old man' and is used to insult a person's appearance and demeanor." [32] During the trial Musk apologized to Unsworth again for the tweet. In December 2019, the jury ruled that Musk was not liable. [33] [34]
In May 2022, Business Insider cited an anonymous friend of an unnamed SpaceX contract flight attendant, alleging that Musk engaged in sexual misconduct in 2016. The source stated that in November 2018, Musk, SpaceX, and the former flight attendant entered into a severance agreement granting the attendant a $250,000 payment in exchange for a promise not to sue over the claims. [35] Musk responded, "If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light." He accused the article from Business Insider of being a "politically motivated hit piece". [36] [37] After the release of the article, Tesla's stock fell by more than 6%, [38] and Barron's wrote of the fall that "some investors considered key-man risk – the danger that a company could be badly hurt by the loss of one individual." [39]
In April 2023, the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands sought to subpoena Musk for documents in a lawsuit alleging that JPMorgan Chase profited from Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation. [40] The efforts to subpoena Musk for documents do not implicate him in any wrongdoing and do not seek to have Musk testify under oath. [40]
Musk's former girlfriend Grimes filed a parental relationship petition in late September 2023 as part of a custody dispute. The petition came a month after Grimes openly accused him in a social media post of blocking her access to the youngest of their three children. [41] [42] On July 27, 2024, Grimes' mother accused Musk of withholding the passports of her grandchildren. [43]
Ben Brody, a 22-year-old Los Angeles-based college graduate, initiated a defamation lawsuit in October 2023 against Musk for over $1 million. He alleged Musk had falsely identified him as a participant "in a violent street brawl on behalf of a neo-Nazi extremist group" near Portland, Oregon. [44] [45] [46] According to Brody's complaint, one of Musk's X posts promoted conspiracy theories that "Ben Brody's alleged participation in the extremist brawl meant the incident was probably a 'false flag' operation to deceive the American public". [44] The complaint also alleged that Musk's accusations led to Brody and his family being subjected to harassment and threats. [44] [45] [47] In February 2024, Musk was ordered to testify in a deposition for the lawsuit. [48] In the deposition, Musk denied knowing who was suing him and admitted to doing no research on whether his claims were true. Musk attempted to keep the deposition from being made public. [49] [50]
In October 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Musk over his refusal to testify a third time in an investigation into whether he violated federal law by purchasing Twitter stock in 2022. [51] [52] [53] Musk claimed the SEC was harassing him. [51] [53] In February 2024, Judge Laurel Beeler ruled that Musk must testify again. [54] In January 2025, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk for securities violations related to his purchase of Twitter. [55]
In January 2024, Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled in a 2018 lawsuit that Musk's $55 billion pay package from Tesla be rescinded. [56] McCormick called the compensation granted by the company's board "an unfathomable sum" that was unfair to shareholders. In response to the ruling, Musk posted on X: "Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware." [57] A re-ratification shareholders' vote passed in mid-June 2024, although much follow-up litigation is expected, including a lawsuit filed by a Tesla investor beforehand that alleged Musk employed "coercive tactics" to move the vote in his favor. [58]
In February 2024 Musk sued OpenAI, its chief executive Sam Altman, and president Greg Brockman over the company violating its founding agreement by prioritizing profits over benefits to humanity. [59]
In June 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported Musk had a "romantic relationship" with a former intern at SpaceX, confirmed with affidavits supplied by the intern's lawyers who also represent Musk, and alleged that he had sexual relations with a woman who directly reported to him there. The article further alleges he also pursued sex with other SpaceX employees, and repeatedly asked an employee who reported directly to him to "have his babies". [60] In the same month, eight ex-employees, the same eight who were previously fired for penning an anti-Musk letter at SpaceX, filed a lawsuit against Musk alleging sexual harassment. [61]
Also in June 2024, a former Twitter executive sued Musk for "cheating" him and other ousted executives out of $200 million in severance pay. [62]
In August 2024, Musk sued advertisers for a boycott of X (formerly Twitter). [63] [64] [65] Later that month, Olympic boxer Imane Khelif filed a lawsuit for cyber harassment against X over alleged "acts of aggravated cyber harassment", in which Musk was named. [66]
In October 2024, Musk and his America PAC were sued in Pennsylvania for allegedly operating an unlawful lottery before the 2024 US presidential election. [67] In November 2024, he was sued again regarding the lottery [68] and two US senators called for a probe into alleged contacts with Vladimir Putin. [69]
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American space technology company headquartered at the Starbase development site near Brownsville, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the company has made numerous advancements in rocket propulsion, reusable launch vehicles, human spaceflight and satellite constellation technology. As of 2024, SpaceX is the world's dominant space launch provider, its launch cadence eclipsing all others, including private competitors and national programs like the Chinese space program. SpaceX, NASA, and the United States Armed Forces work closely together by means of governmental contracts.
Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman and political figure known for his key roles in the automotive company Tesla, Inc. and the space company SpaceX. He is also known for his ownership of the technology company X Corp. and his role in the founding of the Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI. Musk is the wealthiest individual in the world; as of January 2025, Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$426 billion.
Tesla, Inc. is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar shingles, and related products and services.
Gary Scott Gensler is a former American government official and former investment banker who served as the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 2021 to 2025. Gensler previously worked for Goldman Sachs and led the Biden–Harris transition's Federal Reserve, Banking, and Securities Regulators agency review team. Prior to his appointment, he was professor of Practice of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Kimbal James Musk is a South African-born Canadian and American businessman and restaurateur. He co-owns The Kitchen Restaurant Group, a collection of restaurants in Colorado, Chicago, and Austin. He is the co-founder and chairman of Big Green, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has built hundreds of outdoor classrooms called Learning Gardens in schoolyards across the United States. Musk is also the co-founder and chairman of Square Roots, an urban farming company growing food in hydroponic, indoor, climate controlled shipping containers. Musk currently sits on the boards of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX; his brother Elon is the current CEO of both companies. He was on the board of Chipotle Mexican Grill from 2013 to 2019. He is the brother of Elon Musk, Tosca Musk, son of Errol and Maye Musk, and a major shareholder in Tesla.
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who decided to create a payment system as a joke, making fun of the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies at the time. It is considered both the first "meme coin", and more specifically the first "dog coin". Despite its satirical nature, some consider it a legitimate investment prospect. Dogecoin features the face of Kabosu from the "doge" meme as its logo and namesake. It was introduced on December 6, 2013, and quickly developed its own online community, reaching a peak market capitalization of over US$85 billion on May 5, 2021. As of 2021, it is the sleeve sponsor of Watford Football Club.
The Tesla Roadster is an upcoming battery electric four-seater sports car to be built by Tesla, Inc. The company said it will be capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, which would be quicker than any street legal production car to date at its announcement in November 2017. The Roadster is the successor to Tesla's first production car, the 2008 Roadster.
Alexander Benjamin Spiro is an American attorney. He is a partner at the New York office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Over his career he has represented multiple celebrity clients including Elon Musk, Jay-Z, MrBeast, Eric Adams, and Alec Baldwin.
TSLAQ is a loose, international collective of largely anonymous short-sellers, skeptics, and researchers who openly criticize Tesla, Inc. and its CEO Elon Musk. The group primarily organizes on social media, often using the $TSLAQ cashtag, and on Reddit to coordinate efforts and share news, opinions, and analysis about the company and its stock. Edward Niedermeyer, in his book Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors (2019), pinpoints the July 2018 doxxing of Twitter user Lawrence Fossi, a Seeking Alpha writer and Tesla short seller operating under the pseudonym Montana Skeptic, as the catalyst for the formation of TSLAQ.
PlainSite is a US based website dedicated to legal data transparency advocacy developed in conjunction by Think Computer Corporation and the charitable organization Think Computer Foundation. PlainSite provides both free and paid access to legal documents and information about the US legal system on a variety of subjects and caselaw. The website previously collected legal documents via the Free Law Project's RECAP archive until the archive adopted a fee-based approach.
Kenneth Klippenstein is an American journalist who worked at The Intercept. Prior to joining The Intercept, Klippenstein was the D.C. Correspondent at The Nation, and previously was a senior investigative reporter for the online news program The Young Turks. His work has also appeared in The Daily Beast,Salon, and other publications. His reporting has focused on U.S. federal and national security matters as well as corporate controversies.
Elon Musk is the CEO or owner of multiple companies including Tesla, SpaceX, and X Corp., and has expressed many views on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from politics to science. With his involvement in European politics by supporting far-right political parties, Musk's views and actions have received criticism from some world leaders. Described as libertarian, Musk considered himself as "politically moderate" until 2022. Following the COVID-19 pandemic his views have been described as becoming more right-wing and conservative over time, and are sometimes described as far-right.
Tesla, Inc. has been criticized for its cars, workplace culture, business practices, and occupational safety. Many of the criticisms are also directed toward Elon Musk, the company's CEO and Product Architect. Critics have also accused Tesla of deceptive marketing, unfulfilled promises, and fraud. The company is currently facing criminal and civil investigations into its self-driving claims. Critics have highlighted Tesla's downplaying of issues, and Tesla's alleged retaliation against several whistleblowers.
Tesla, Inc. is an American electric car manufacturer which employs over 140,000 workers across its global operations as of January 2024, almost none of which are unionized. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has commented negatively on trade unions in relation to Tesla. Despite allegations of high injury rates, long hours, and below-industry pay, efforts to unionize the workforce have been largely unsuccessful. There are active labor disputes with Tesla in the United States, Germany and Sweden.
The business magnate Elon Musk initiated an acquisition of American social media company Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022, and concluded it on October 27, 2022. Musk had begun buying shares of the company in January 2022, becoming its largest shareholder by April with a 9.1 percent ownership stake. Twitter invited Musk to join its board of directors, an offer he initially accepted before declining. On April 14, Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company, to which Twitter's board responded with a "poison pill" strategy to resist a hostile takeover before unanimously accepting Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion on April 25. Musk stated that he planned to introduce new features to the platform, make its algorithms open-source, combat spambot accounts, and promote free speech, framing the acquisition as the cornerstone of X, an "everything app".
X Corp. is an American technology company headquartered in Bastrop, Texas. Established by Elon Musk in 2023 as the successor to Twitter, Inc., it is a wholly owned subsidiary of X Holdings Corp., which is itself mostly owned by Musk. The company owns the social networking service X, and has announced plans to use it as a base for other offerings. They also own the trademarks of services Vine and Periscope which were also previously owned by Twitter. While the official name of the company and social network is now X, many users and media outlets continue to refer to it as Twitter.
Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$436 billion as of January 22, 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and $426 billion according to Forbes, primarily from his ownership stakes in Tesla, Inc. and SpaceX.
Elon Musk is a businessman known predominantly for his leading roles in the automotive company Tesla, Inc. and the space company SpaceX. Musk is also known for his ownership of technology company X Corp. and his role in the founding of the Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI.
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