A former SpaceX employee says Elon Musk exposed himself to her and offered to have sex with her in 2016.
SpaceX paid the woman a $250,000 settlement, which included a nondisclosure agreement, in 2018, Business Insider reported Thursday. The woman was then working as a flight attendant for SpaceX.
Musk, 50, denied the Insider report’s claims.
“If I was prone to engaging in sexual harassment, it’s unlikely this will be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it’s been revealed,” he told the outlet, claiming that there was “much more to this story”.
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The woman’s friend spoke to Insider after she filed a statement of support for the woman. She was not bound by the NDA.
“He pulled his penis out, it was erect,” the friend told Insider of the incident.
She said Musk often gets massages on his private flights and that her friend got a massage license so she could work with Musk more often, Insider reported. The woman massaged Musk on several flights before the incident, the friend said.
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On a flight to London, the woman was giving Musk a massage when he stripped and exposed himself, the friend told Insider. Musk offered to buy the woman, an avid rider, a horse in exchange for sexual flavors, the friend said.
The woman refused Musk and eventually left the room, the friend told Insider. She confided in the friend soon after.
According to the friend’s account, the woman was essentially demoted at work after turning Musk down, Insider reported. She took on a lawyer in 2018 and filed an HR complaint at SpaceX.
After the complaint, SpaceX offered the woman $250,000 in exchange for not suing and agreeing to the NDA, according to Insider. The woman did not speak to Insider for the story.
Insider said Musk asked for more time to answer questions. Although he withheld the story for several days, the outlet said Musk did not provide further details.
Yesterday Musk tweeted: “The political attacks on me will escalate dramatically in the months ahead.”
The eccentric multi-billionaire agreed to buy Twitter for around $44 billion earlier this year.