Elon Musk’s SpaceX firm paid $250,000 to a flight attendant to settle a sexual misconduct claim against the CEO in 2018.
The woman was working as a cabin crew member for SpaceX’s corporate jet fleet when she accused Musk of exposing his erect penis to her, rubbing her leg without consent, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.
“He whipped out his penis, it was erect,” the friend said, describing the allegations. “And he started propositioning her, like he touched her thigh and told her he would buy her a horse. And he basically tried to bribe her to perform some sort of sexual favor.”
The incident occured in 2016, alleges a friend of the flight attendant in a signed document. The details of the incident are drawn from that document, as well as other e-mails and records shared by the friend.
The flight attendant confided in the friend that she was encouraged to become a licensed masseuse after taking the flight attendant position, in order to give Musk massages.
After the rebuff of Musk’s advances, the flight attendant told her friend that her work opportunities dried up. The attendant felt “she was being pushed out and punished for refusing to prostitute herself.”
The flight attendant hired a California employment attorney and brought her claim to SpaceX’s human resources department.
The attendant’s complaint was resolved quickly after a session with a mediator that Musk personally attended. The matter never reached a court of law or an arbitration proceeding. In November 2018, Musk, SpaceX and the 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.
Musk Denies Allegations
He didn’t specify who “their” referred to, but added, “I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me ‘exposed’ – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened.”
Musk had earlier tweeted that he would be switching his support for the Democratic Party to Republicans.
