A SpaceX flight attendant said she was paid $250,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim against the company’s founder Elon Musk in 2018 after he expose himself and propositioned her for sex, according to Insider.
One of the flight attendant’s friends relayed the allegations to the outlet. The friend was asked to sign a declaration supporting the allegations by the attendant’s attorney in 2018.
According to the flight attendant’s friend, the alleged victim worked as a member of the cabin crew on a contract basis for SpaceX’s corporate jet fleet. During the flight Musk allegedly asked the flight attendant for a massage. The friend said this was not unusual since she was encouraged to get licensed as a masseuse so that she could give Musk massages.
During one of those massages in 2016, the flight attendant entered the cabin to find that Musk “was completely naked except for a sheet covering the lower half of his body.” During the massage, the declaration says, Musk exposed his erect penis and then “touched her and offered to buy her a horse if she would ‘do more,’ referring to the performance of sex acts.”
The flight attendant declined to perform sexual acts and according to the declaration she felt “she was being pushed out and punished for refusing to prostitute herself.”
In 2018, the flight attendant sent a complaint to SpaceX’s human resources department detailing what had happened on the flight. The matter never made it to court or arbitration. The company took the complaint to a mediator and the matter was resolved after one session which Musk attended.
The attendant was signed to a $250,000 severance payment in exchange for a promise not to sue over the claims, according to Insider. She was also barred from talking about the payment or saying anything bad about Musk or his companies, including SpaceX and Tesla.
When Insider contacted Musk for comment he said he needed more time to respond and that there is “a lot more to this story.”
“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 wrote, calling the story a “politically motivated hit piece.”
Insider extended the deadline and asked Musk for comment again but he never responded.
On Wednesday Musk told his followers on Twitter that “political attacks on me will escalate dramatically in coming months.” He also warned that he would be the victim of a “dirty tricks campaign.”
