Elon Musk Paid $250,000 To SpaceX Flight Attendant Who Accused Him Of Exposing Himself And Touching Her, Report Claims
Poppy Bilderbeck
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Elon Musk has been accused of paying $250,000 to a flight attendant he allegedly exposed himself to and touched without her permission.
In 2018, a member of the cabin crew on SpaceX's corporate jet made a claim of misconduct against the world's current richest man.
As per interviews and documents, the attendant accused the Tesla CEO of exposing himself to her and asking her to 'do more'.
However, she was reportedly paid $250,000 to settle the claim.
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Email correspondence, a signed declaration by a friend and other documents make up the accusations from the incident that allegedly took place in 2016, obtained by Insider.
Musk reportedly propositioned the employee in a private cabin on Musk's Gulfstream G650ER while receiving a massage. The plane was on its way to London.
Musk was allegedly 'completely naked except for a sheet covering the lower half of his body' during the 'full body massage' he reportedly requested.
Amid the massage, he is said to have 'touched her and offered to buy her a horse if she would 'do more', referring to the 'performance of sex acts' as well as 'expos[ing] his genitals'.
![Elon Musk has been accused of 'expos[ing] his genitals' to a SpaceX flight attendant.](https://resizer.ladbiblegroup.com/unsafe/rs:fit:3840:0:0:0/g:sm/q:70/aHR0cHM6Ly9ldS1pbWFnZXMuY29udGVudHN0YWNrLmNvbS92My9hc3NldHMvYmx0OTQ5ZWE4ZTE2ZTQ2MzA0OS9ibHRkNzdkYjlmMGZmMWRjYjU1LzYyODczNDZmZTI4MDNlMTNlODU5N2U3ZC9EV0NFMVguanBn.webp)
The attendant's friend reported she had been 'encouraged' to get a masseuse license 'but on her own time, on her own dime'.
"They implied that she would get to fly more often if she were to do this because she'd be able to give Elon proper massages. I thought that was kind of strange because — you weren't hired to be a masseuse. You were hired to be a flight attendant. And if Elon likes massages, then he should be paying for you to go to masseuse school. But she was just so happy and eager to have the job and be able to travel," she explained.
During the massage on the flight to London, Musk allegedly 'whipped out his penis', which was 'erect'.
"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 declaration read.
However, the attendant said her friend was 'not for sale' and was 'not going to perform sexual favours for money or gifts'.
The friend's declaration continued by noting how the attendant 'was really upset' by the alleged incident and 'didn't know what to do'.
She said: "Before the incident, she regarded Mr. Musk as a person to look up to. But after he exposed himself, touched her without permission, and offered to pay her for sex, she was full of anxiety.
"She figured things could just go back to normal and she would pretend like nothing happened. However, she started to feel as if she was receiving some sort of retaliation where her shifts were cut back, and she was starting to feel really stressed."
The attendant reportedly felt 'she was being pushed out and punished for refusing to prostitute herself'.
In November 2018, Musk reportedly paid the attendant a quarter of a million dollars in a severance agreement, making her promise she wouldn't sue over the claims.
Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and chief operating officer, stated that the company 'can't fix what [it doesn't] know' and that a 'timely reporting of harassment is key to our maintaining SpaceX as a great place to work'.
Musk told Insider: "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 also tweeted: "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.
"And, for the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue."
Unlike the flight attendant, the friend is not bound by a non-disclosure agreement so stated she wanted to come forward out of an obligation to her friend despite the risk it may pose to her.
She resolved: "I absolutely felt a responsibility to come forward with it, especially now. He is the richest man in the world. Someone with that level of power causing that kind of harm and then throwing some money at the situation, that's not accountability.
"There are predators all over the world. But when someone is particularly wealthy and powerful, they literally have systems that are like a machine working for them, to set them up to be able to do whatever they want."
UNILAD has contacted Elon Musk for comment.
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