Committee calls figure a ‘conservative estimate’ and warns Musk may seek to use his influence to avoid legal liability
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.
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.