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Elon Musk has denied claims in a information report that he sexually harassed a flight attendant on a non-public jet in 2016, calling the accusations “completely unfaithful”.
SpaceX, the rocket firm based by Musk, paid the feminine attendant $250,000 (£200,000) in a severance settlement after a sexual misconduct declare towards the world’s richest particular person, in response to the information web site Enterprise Insider.
The attendant was a cabin crew member who was contracted to work for SpaceX’s company jet fleet. She accused Musk of exposing his erect penis to her, rubbing her leg with out consent and supplied to purchase her a horse if she carried out an erotic therapeutic massage, in response to interviews and paperwork obtained by Enterprise Insider.
Musk, who’s value $212bn and can also be CEO of the electrical carmaker Tesla, instructed his 94.1 million Twitter followers that the allegations had been “completely unfaithful”. The Guardian has not been in a position to confirm the Enterprise Insider account. SpaceX has been approached for remark.
Shares of the electrical carmaker skidded greater than 10% on Friday amid considerations that the alleged sexual misconduct and Musk’s earlier political feedback may threaten to break Tesla’s model and gross sales. The share drop knocked about $66bn off Tesla’s market worth and put the inventory at its lowest since final August.
The alleged incident befell in 2016 and the settlement was agreed in 2018. In keeping with a declaration ready in assist of the declare, the attendant stated that after taking the job she was inspired to coach as a masseuse so she may give Musk massages. It was throughout a kind of massages, onboard Musk’s Gulfstream jet, that she was propositioned by the SpaceX chief govt.
The attendant, who Insider doesn’t title, instructed her buddy that she was requested to go to Musk’s cabin throughout a flight to London to provide a “full physique therapeutic massage”. Upon coming into the room, she discovered Musk was “fully bare apart from a sheet masking the decrease half of his physique”. The declaration says that through the therapeutic massage Musk “uncovered his genitals” and “touched her and supplied to purchase her a horse if she would ‘do extra’, referring to the efficiency of intercourse acts”. The attendant, a horse rider, declined and continued with the therapeutic massage with none sexual exercise.
In an interview with Enterprise Insider in regards to the allegations, the attendant’s buddy stated Musk’s penis was erect when he propositioned her.
In keeping with the declaration, after the incident the attendant felt she was being marginalised in her job. She felt “she was being pushed out and punished for refusing to prostitute herself”, says the declaration.
The attendant employed a lawyer in 2018 and despatched the allegations to SpaceX’s HR division. The grievance was resolved after a session with a mediator attended by Musk, in response to Insider. In November of that 12 months, Musk, SpaceX and the attendant entered right into a severance settlement that concerned a $250,000 fee in alternate for a pledge to not sue over the claims.
Responding to Insider’s story, Musk instructed the information website that there was “much more to this story”. He wrote: “If I had been inclined to have interaction in sexual harassment, that is unlikely to be the primary time in my total 30-year profession that it involves mild,” including that the story was a “politically motivated hit piece”.
With out referring on to the article, Musk tweeted on Friday that assaults towards him ought to be “considered by way of a political lens” and that he would proceed to struggle for “your proper to free speech”. Musk stated on Wednesday that he would vote Republican as a substitute of Democratic, predicting a “soiled tips marketing campaign towards me” would observe.
Musk has agreed to purchase Twitter, the social media firm with 229 million customers, for $44bn however has stated the deal is “on maintain” till he receives additional particulars of the variety of pretend and spam accounts on the platform.
Reuters contributed to this report
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