‘Politically Motivated Hit Piece’: Musk Denies Sexual Assault Claim by Ex-SpaceX Flight Attendant

© AP Photo / John RaouxElon Musk founder, CEO, and chief engineer/designer of SpaceX speaks during a news conference after a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket test flight at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla, Jan. 19, 2020.
Elon Musk founder, CEO, and chief engineer/designer of SpaceX speaks during a news conference after a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket test flight at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla, Jan. 19, 2020. - Sputnik International, 1920, 20.05.2022
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The incident involving billionaire SpaceX and Tesla founder, Elon Musk, and the flight attendant allegedly took place in late 2016 and never reached a court of law or an arbitration proceeding.
Elon Musk has denied a sexual assault claim from a former SpaceX flight attendant, dismissing it as a despicable and “politically motivated” attack.
The accusations, dating back to an incident that allegedly took place in 2016, have been revisited in a story run by Business Insider. Slamming it as a "politically motivated hit piece” and insisting that there was "a lot more to this story", the Tesla founder added in a written response to the outlet:
"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."
The SpaceX chief executive also seemed to be referring to the story on Twitter when he tweeted that attacks against him should be viewed “through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook.”
In the only known allegation aimed personally at Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest man has been accused of exposing himself to a SpaceX flight attendant, rubbing her leg without her consent, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage, according to Insider.
The incident is believed to have taken place during a flight to London in late 2016 and a description of what purportedly took place has been signed in a declaration by a friend of the attendant, who did so to support her claim.
The Insider also made use of other documents, such as email correspondence and other records shared by the unnamed “friend".
The attendant involved is said to have been employed as a contractor in the cabin crew for SpaceX's corporate jet fleet. She confided to the friend that she had been encouraged to get licensed as a masseuse, the declaration cited by the outlet stated.

"They encouraged her to get licensed as a masseuse, but in 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,” the friend of the accuser was quoted as saying.

On the day in question, the billionaire SpaceX and Tesla founder reportedly asked the flight attendant to come to his room "for a full body massage". Musk "was completely naked except for a sheet covering the lower half of his body" during the massage, the declaration says.
Suddenly the tech guru "exposed his genitals" and then "touched her and offered to buy her a horse if she would ‘do more’, referring to the performance of sex acts".

“And he basically tried to bribe her to perform some sort of sexual favour," the friend told The Insider.

The flight attendant, who rides horses, declined Musk’s offer and is described in the declaration to have continued with the massage without engaging in any sexual conduct.
The friend added that the attendant shared the details of the incident with her when they were on a hike together shortly afterwards.
According to the friend, the woman was “really upset" and “didn't know what to do".
"… After he exposed himself, touched her without permission, and offered to pay her for sex, she was full of anxiety."
The flight attendant purportedly told her friend that, after she rejected Musk’s advances, 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".
Eventually, according to the declaration, the SpaceX attendant felt "she was being pushed out and punished for refusing to prostitute herself".
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin on Dec. 1, 2020. As Twitter’s newest board member and largest shareholder, Musk is already floating suggestions for changes he’d like to see on the social media platform. In a series of tweets late Saturday, April 9, 2022, Musk said that the company should include an “authentication checkmark” as a feature of its Twitter Blue premium subscription service, which costs $3 a month. - Sputnik International, 1920, 18.05.2022
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In 2018, the attendant is believed to have hired a California employment lawyer and sent a complaint to the SpaceX human resources department. It was at the same time that the cited declaration corroborating her claims was ostensibly drawn up and signed by the friend.
A session with a mediator that Elon Musk personally attended quickly resolved the issue, which never reached a court of law, The Insider reported. In November 2018, Musk, SpaceX and the flight attendant reportedly signed a severance agreement. The woman received a payment worth $250,000 in exchange for a promise not to sue the SpaceX founder over the sexual assault claims.
After The Insider sought a more detailed comment from Musk, who had reportedly requested more time, but was not forthcoming, Christopher Cardaci, the company's vice-president of legal, was quoted as telling the publication:
"I'm not going to comment on any settlement agreements."
 Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany on March 22, 2022. - Sputnik International, 1920, 18.05.2022
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The sexual assault accusation story targeting Musk has resurfaced just as the billionaire is in the process of buying Twitter for $44 billion.
He has also faced renewed criticism after he announced that he would remove the ban on former President Donald Trump from the platform and that he would vote Republican in the coming mid-term elections. He also levelled a barrage of criticism at Democrat President Joe Biden, saying:
“It’s hard to tell what Biden’s doing, to be totally frank. The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter.”
After tweeting that the US Democrat party had become a “party of division & hate”, he added: “Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold ….”
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