OAKLAND, May 20 (Reuters) – Elon Musk took to Twitter on Thursday evening to denounce as “completely untrue” claims in an investigation by online news site Business Insider that he sexually harassed a flight attendant. the air in a private jet in 2016.
According to the American media, the company SpaceX of Elon Musk would have paid 250,000 dollars in 2018 to settle the complaint for sexual assault of a flight attendant of a private jet who would have accused the billionaire of having exhibited himself in front of her.
The article quoted, on condition of anonymity, a close friend of the employee who would have provided testimony in the context of the litigation, according to the article.
“I have a challenge for this liar who claims her friend saw me ‘exhibited’: describe one thing, anything (scars, tattoos, etc.) that is not publicly known. She won’t be able to because it never happened,” Elon Musk wrote on Twitter.
Reuters was unable to verify Business Insider’s investigation. Elon Musk and SpaceX did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the Business Insider article or the tweets.
In addition to allegedly showing off, Elon Musk allegedly rubbed the hostess’s thigh and offered to buy her a horse if she “did more” during a massage, Business Insider reported, citing the friend of the hostess.
Also according to the site, the refusal of the hostess would have harmed her career at SpaceX, which would have pushed her to hire a lawyer in 2018.
The aerospace group would have reached an amicable agreement with the hostess who would have signed confidentiality clauses preventing her from disclosing any information, according to Business Insider.
“The attacks on me must be seen through a political prism (…) but nothing will deter me from fighting for a bright future and your right to freedom of expression”, tweeted Elon Musk.
The CEO of Tesla believes that this revelation is intended to interfere with the ongoing acquisition of the social network Twitter.
Reuters was unable to reach Business Insider for comment. (Reporting Hyunjoo Jin and Joey Roulette; French version Federica Mileo, editing by Kate Entringer)