Elon Musk has reportedly sent a sum of $250,000 to a flight attendant who accused him of exposing himself to her and asked for sexual favours.
A flight attendant working for Elon Musk’s company SpaceX has allegedly been paid a hefty fee by the CEO to silence her on the 2016 incident.
According to reports, the flight attendant was encouraged to get a masseuse license so she could give Musk massages during his flights.
During one of those massages, Musk allegedly exposed his erect penis to his employee, touching her leg and “offered to buy her a horse if she would ‘do more,’” in reference to sexual favours.
The flight attendant never spoke publicly about the incident, but recounted the event to a friend who explained it in a signed declaration that Insider reviewed.
The victim of the alleged harassment wanted things to go back to normal after the incident, but noted that she was receiving less opportunities at work, so in 2018 she hired an employment lawyer to file a complaint.
The case never went to court, instead, Musk’s company and the flight attendant reached an agreement, offering a severance payment of $250,000 if she promised not to sue.
Musk has since described the reports as “wild allegations” labelling them a “politically motivated hit piece”.
This is the first accusation of sexual misconduct against Musk himself, but his companies are no stranger to reports of sexual abuse.
In December last year, SpaceX employee Ashley Kosa published an essay, detailing alleged groping by male employees while she was working as an intern.
Another six women have sued Tesla for workplace harassment, reporting male employees that frequently made inappropriate comments.
