SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Tesla and SpaceX founder, mogul Elon Musk, was accused of sexual misconduct in 2018 leading to a payout of a quarter of a million dollars to the accuser, according to reporting by Business Insider.
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A SpaceX flight attendant for the company's corporate jet fleet accused Musk of propositioning her, rubbing her leg, and exposing his erect penis to her in 2016, the outlet reported.
After getting the job, the attendant was told it would be beneficial for her to become a licensed masseur so she could also give Musk massages, the outlet reported. While she was massaging him during a flight, he allegedly offered to buy her a horse in exchange for sex.
The details of the incident came from documents regarding the claim obtained by the outlet, including a signed declaration of one of the flight attendant’s friends whom she’d confided in about the incident.
After the incident, the attendant noticed that her work hours were being cut, in what felt like a form of retaliation for refusing Musk's advances.
Eventually, she decided to hire an attorney and filed a complaint internally with the company. During this time her friend was asked to prepare the declaration cited by Business Insider.
In mediation, an agreement was made where the attendant was paid $250,000. In return, she agreed not to sue and signed a non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreement.
She was essentially forbidden from discussing anything about the incident, but the friend she confided in was not beholden to such an agreement, and came forward, the outlet reported, because of her own past experience with sexual assault.
So far, Musk has posted on Twitter that the recent revelation of this incident might be related to his business dealings, notably his bid to buy Twitter itself.
"The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook – but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech," he wrote in a post on Friday.
He also seemed to make light of the situation in a subsequent post: "Finally, we get to use Elongate as scandal name," he wrote. "It's kinda perfect."
SpaceX did not respond to KCBS Radio's request for comment at the time of publication.
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