Musk's Corruption Laid Bare
What a mess.
Musk’s corruption, both in the moral and legal sense, has been an open secret for years now. Take Kathy Leuders. As part of NASA’s administration, she gave SpaceX nearly $3 billion for a Starship-derived lunar lander, which was a project that many experts said SpaceX couldn’t deliver on. Almost immediately, she left NASA and got a cushy job, likely with sizeable equity, at SpaceX. That’s pretty damn fishy, yet it has never been investigated (read more here). Or what about the fact that the DoJ was investigating Tesla for wire fraud after it found they had lied to investors about their self-driving technology (read more here)? At the time, this case was rapidly moving to court, but we haven’t heard anything about it since Trump and Musk entered the White House. And these aren’t isolated cases. Musk behaves corruptly so often that it can be hard to keep track of each incident. However, detailing these incidents is just what Elizabeth Warren has done, and her recent report lays out Musk’s copious, heinous, and corrupt actions for all to see. It seems that even with such a huge immoral advantage, Musk’s company is still struggling under the immense weight of his incompetence.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has been one of the few senators to consistently hold Musk to account, but arguably, this report is her most significant move against him. It is effectively a list of 130 acts of corruption that Musk undertook during his 130-day tenure at the White House. And she hasn’t come empty-handed; each accusation comes with credible cited evidence.
You can tell this report is serious. It begins by stating that these 130 acts have increased Musk’s personal wealth by $100 billion and that they have either stalled or dismissed the $2.27 billion in potential liability that Musk’s companies faced from agency enforcement actions. Yeah, Warren ain’t pulling her punches here. No bumph, no legalese lines to read between, just hard-hitting, well-backed accusations.
If you want to understand all 130 acts in glorious detail, you can read the report here; it’s a hoot. But Warren broke these acts down into 15 different categories, so for those of you who want the highlights, let me give you my favourites in each category.
1. Government resources to promote Musk’s businesses
Trump selling Teslas on the White House Lawn.
Commerce Secretary Lutnick, who is reportedly “close to Elon Musk”, appeared on Fox News, telling viewers to “buy Tesla.”
2. Federal contracts for Musk’s businesses
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is now exploring a contract to use Starlink technology in surveillance towers to monitor the border.
The Commerce Department changed the terms of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, which expands broadband in rural communities, to allow Starlink to apply for the program, even though expert staff warned that Starlink could mean inferior service and higher costs for users.
3. Ending enforcement actions against Musk’s businesses
The 40 federal agencies that have been investigating Musk and his companies have taken zero actions for months now.
The Air Force declined to even review SpaceX for suspension or debarment as a contractor, despite concerns that Musk is repeatedly engaging with top Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin.
4. Undercutting agencies regulating and investigating Musk’s businesses
Musk has direct business interests with over 70% of agencies and departments targeted by DOGE.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was a top target. Musk called for “delet[ing]” the agency, and DOGE attempted to fire up to 90% of CFPB staff, who would regulate Musk’s X Money.
The Trump Administration plans to cut potentially thousands of EPA employees after the EPA found that SpaceX violated the Clean Water Act, investigated Tesla’s actions at its Austin facility, and investigated an xAI facility in Tennessee regarding its air pollution.
5. Policy changes and approvals that benefit Musk’s businesses
The FAA suddenly gave SpaceX permission to increase launches fivefold in Texas (with little to no operational or technical changes).
The FAA redrew hazard zones and gave SpaceX final approval to launch Starship, even after several failed test flights exploded in January and March, raining debris over multiple countries.
President Trump froze enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a bribery law that previously affected Tesla suppliers.
6. Special access to sensitive meetings and data
DoD prepared a highly classified China war planning briefing for Musk with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which could have provided Musk with information that would have given his company inside knowledge about DoD’s contract needs and information he could have been pressured to share with China to continue operating as a business there.
A whistleblower revealed DOGE targeted NLRB confidential data, potentially including investigations into Musk companies and their competitors.
7. Influence over government personnel
Musk sat in the room during Air Force nominee Troy Meink’s interview while he sought Air Force contracts and while facing an Air Force review of SpaceX violating security reporting requirements.
Long-time SpaceX employee Michael Altenhofen secured a role as a senior advisor at NASA.
SpaceX engineer and Musk ally Ted Malaska became embedded at the FAA and warned FAA staff that “[a]nyone who impeded progress would be reported to Musk and risk losing their jobs” — while the FAA had active enforcement actions against Musk.
8. Musk’s parochial interests over the public interest
Amidst Musk’s vocal opposition to racial justice laws in his country of origin, South Africa, President Trump issued an executive order cutting aid to South Africa in order to pressure it to change the new law (Expropriation Act) to redistribute land from White to Black South Africans.
Musk also appeared to influence Trump’s decision to allow Afrikaner white South Africans — who Musk claims face a “genocide” — to enter the United States as refugees while shutting down refugee admissions for virtually every other group in the world.
9. Leveraging Musk’s power to threaten other businesses
Executives at X reportedly threatened to block a merger for an advertising firm if it failed to get companies to spend more on advertising on X referencing Musk’s name.
10. Weaponising agencies against Musk’s enemies
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched a seemingly baseless investigation into Media Matters, which Musk says targeted X because it investigated antisemitic content on the platform.
11. Securing policy benefits through Congress
Under pressure from the White House, House Republicans passed a tax bill that includes $25 billion for Golden Dome — much of which could go to Musk’s SpaceX.
12. Foreign deals
Musk joined President Trump’s Middle East tour and “worked hard to try to derail the [UAE AI] deal if it didn’t include his own AI startup.”
13. Deals for Musk’s family
Musk’s brother, father and mother all received significant deals with foreign governments soon after Musk gained power.
14. Meddling in the electoral and judicial processes
Musk pledged $2 million in a lottery for Wisconsin voters who supported a conservative state Supreme Court candidate — in a race that could influence the balance of power in Congress.
Musk called for the impeachment of judges who rule against President Trump’s policies.
15. Lack of public transparency
Musk refused to inform the public of whether he has received any waiver of the statutory rule preventing him from working on projects that create conflicts of interest.
None of these would constitute an out-and-out case of corruption or a smoking gun that needs immediate investigation. And sure, some of these may never come to fruition thanks to Musk and Trump’s falling out, such as SpaceX’s connection to Trump’s largely pointless Golden Dome project. But there are plenty of cases where the damage is already done and irreversible.
Yet, even despite these enormous immoral grabs for power and wealth, Musk has still found a way to crush his empire. Wells Fargo predicts Tesla stock will drop a whopping 60% as sales continue to fall off a cliff, and telecoms analyst Tim Farrar has pointed out that Starlink’s dipping sales and massive lack of profit could massively shrink SpaceX’s value. Considering that Starlink was meant to pay for Starship development and scaling, that is seriously bad news for SpaceX.
So, Musk is possibly one of the most corrupt individuals in the Western world, yet he is still such a poor businessman that his companies are facing significant decline despite this corruption. It just goes to show, don’t do drugs, kids.
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Sources: Elizabeth Warren, CNBC, Will Lockett, Will Lockett, Forbes
Trump, like Musk, is only “successful” because he’s corrupt. Buzzards that flocked together, now fallen out over who gets the most bites of the carcass.