Elon Musk

Elon Musk has faced numerous controversies and legal challenges throughout his career. In 2018, the SEC sued Musk for securities fraud over a tweet claiming he had funding to take Tesla private. Musk settled for $20 million, stepped down as Tesla chairman, and accepted oversight of his communications; he remained CEO. In 2025, the SEC filed a new lawsuit regarding his Twitter stock purchase. Regarding his conduct, Musk was found not liable in a 2019 defamation suit filed by Vernon Unsworth after Musk called him a pedophile. In 2022, Business Insider reported an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a SpaceX flight attendant, which Musk denied. In 2023, he was sued for defamation by Ben Brody after falsely linking him to a neo-Nazi brawl. Musk has faced significant litigation regarding his companies. A 2018 shareholder lawsuit challenging his Tesla pay package saw the award rescinded by a Delaware judge in 2024, though the Delaware Supreme Court overturned this in December 2025. Tesla also faces extensive litigation—totaling up to $14.5 billion in exposure—related to Autopilot safety, racial discrimination, and securities fraud. In May 2026, a jury ruled against Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, finding his claims barred by the statute of limitations. Most recently, in 2026, French prosecutors escalated a criminal probe into Musk and X regarding the distribution of child sexual abuse imagery and the generation of prohibited content by his AI, Grok. Additionally, a 2025 Senate report identified at least 65 federal actions involving Musk's companies, totaling billions in potential liability, noting concerns over conflicts of interest during his time as a government advisor.