Elon Musk and his companies face at least $2.37bn in legal exposure from federal investigations, litigation and regulatory oversight, according to a new report from Senate Democrats. The report attempts to put a number to Musk’s many conflicts of interest through his work with his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), warning that he may seek to use his influence to avoid legal liability.
The report, which was published on Monday by Democratic members of the Senate homeland security committee’s permanent subcommittee on investigations, looked at 65 actual or potential actions against Musk across 11 separate agencies. Investigators calculated the financial liabilities Musk and his companies, such as Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink, may face in 45 of those actions.
Although the report gives a total estimated amount, it also states that the $2bn-plus figure does not include how much Musk could avoid from investigations that the Trump administration declines to launch. It also excludes the potential contracts, such as communications deals with his Starlink satellite internet service, that Musk’s companies could gain because of his role in the administration.
“While the $2.37 billion figure represents a credible, conservative estimate, it drastically understates the true benefit Mr Musk may gain from legal risk avoidance alone as a result of his position in government,” the report states.
$2.37 billion? Is that a joke?
Feels incredibly low, considering his net worth is in the hundreds-of-billions and an easy third or more is directly tied to government contracts and other special relationships with federal and state bureaucracies.
Tesla would not have been profitable this year if not for EV credits. Starlink and SpaceX are fully bound at the hip with NASA and the Pentagon. Twitter/X is a straight-up propaganda machine, with advertisement volume heavily predicated on his proximity to the Presidency. Neurolink only exists thanks to the enormous blind spot carved out for him by the FDA (and the SEC and likely a few other agencies). OpenAI freely abused IRS non-profit rules while taking billions from Microsoft - for whom the US federal government is its biggest client and attributed to north of 15% of their gross revenue. Paypal integrates with the IRS as well as a myriad of other federal and state agencies.
$2.37B seems like the tip of an iceberg.
Money addicts will risk their half trillion dollar fortune trying to save a small fraction of it
You would cry at the elites mind set. Like the child who wanted everyone’s toys and always cries if you say no.
And it’s against the rules to call for his death. Lmfao. Bitch ass mods suck those musky nuts.
“Oh gosh if we let people talk smack they might shut us down even though that’s literally never happened and we are just secretly maga lovers”
The mods on Lemmy? I’m not very familiar with the rules
Hypothetically is it against the rules to say “America should give them a taste of their own medicine and put them in the concentration camps they’ve been sending other innocents to”?
Just wondering how much of a double standard there is against these fascists with evidence of supporting Nazis
We shouldn’t put anyone in concentration camps.
We should teach people the history and utility of guillotines, not so that we might construct literal ancient technology, but to understand the important lesson: we have all the power, they are just like us, flesh and blood, and an illusion of authority over us.
We won’t need their tools, we won’t need to stuff them in concentration camps, we don’t need to torture them or become inhumane like them, but we must recognize that they won’t stop without us pushing back.
And a few more Luigis are needed to get us there. There, the coward mods will delete it now.
Amen
When you say it like that, it might slip by. ;)
I prefer a more direct approach: kill every corrupt politician by hanging and gutting them on national television. Then move on to the billionaires.
Conflict of interest? I didn’t see that coming. /s
