San Francisco: Some board members at Tesla and SpaceX are aware of the “use of illegal drugs” by Elon Musk and regularly do drugs with him, “because they think refraining could upset the billionaire, who has made them a lot of money,” the media reported.
They “don’t want to risk losing the social capital that comes from being close to Musk, which for some feels akin to having proximity to a king,” reports The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
“Board members have reaped hundreds of millions from stock awards and separate investments, even as some have done drugs with Musk,” the report mentioned.
According to the WSJ, friends and others close to Musk were worried that his drug use was getting worse, and “some asked him to go to rehab”.
Musk replied on Monday that no one has ever mentioned rehab to him.
“First, no one has ever mentioned rehab to me ever,” the billionaire posted on X.
“Second, if they are saying that I was able to lead Tesla to be by far the most valuable carmaker and SpaceX to be by far the most valuable space company simultaneously, that is the greatest compliment I have ever received,” he wrote.
Last week, a Delaware judge in the US struck down Musk’s $56 billion pay package at Tesla, saying it is “unfair” and asked board members to come up with a new pay proposal.
An angry Musk later announced that Tesla will move immediately to hold a shareholder vote to change its legal home from the US state of Delaware to Texas.
The WSJ report also claimed that multiple other directors of Musk’s companies have “deep personal and financial ties to the billionaire- entrepreneur, and have profited enormously from the relationship”.
“Several current or former directors at Tesla and SpaceX attend parties with him, go on exotic vacations and hang out at Burning Man, the Nevada arts and music festival,” the report alleged.
Musk was yet to respond to these allegations.
“Most members of Tesla’s current eight-person board have amassed shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars from their seats over the years, significantly more than what board members at other companies make for their service,” the report noted.
Some current and former Tesla and SpaceX directors have knowledge of Musk’s illegal drug use but haven’t taken public action, it alleged.
“The volume of drug use by Musk and with board members has become concerning,” said the report, citing sources.
Reports earlier surfaced that Musk had used drugs, including cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and magic mushrooms.
Leaders at Tesla and SpaceX were concerned about his drug use, “particularly his recreational use of ketamine, for which Musk has said he has a prescription”.
–IANS