NYT Reports Elon Musk’s Father Accused Of Child Sexual Abuse

The New York Times has published an exposé today (9/23) regarding accusations that Errol Musk sexually abused five of his children and stepchildren since 1993.

His eldest son, tech billionaire Elon Musk, has said very little publicly about his father, and the investigation found that the scandal was a factor in their estrangement. Several family members have reached out to Elon asking for help, and he has at times interceded, according to documentation provided by family members. An excerpt from one such letter read:

We really need your advice, help and guidance in these matters because we daily see these children suffer.

The newspaper describes the situation as “a painful three-decade multigenerational saga that continues to trail [Elon]”, and details their investigation of police and court records, correspondence, and through interviews with social workers and family members. The abuse is alleged to have taken place in South Africa as well as California.

The first accusation came from Errol’s then 4-year-old step-daughter, who told family members he had touched her in their home. The same step-daughter claims she caught him sniffing her dirty underwear a decade later. This stepdaughter said she had a child with Errol in her 20s.

He is also accused of abusing two of his daughters and a step-son, and most recently, in 2023, family and social members attempted to respond to claims made by his then 5-year-old son that Errol had groped his buttocks.

Records show three police investigations have been opened into the matter, two of which were closed, and at this time, Errol Musk has not been convicted of a crime.

Elon has responded to family through his assistant in one instance, and provided financial support to stepfamily in another. He also attempted to help others remain in California, hoping to maintain distance between them and Errol.

In Errol Musk’s response to the Times, he said, “the reports are false and nonsense in the extreme” and claims the accusations were made up by other family members who were “putting the children up to say false things”.

The Times poked holes in his response, writing Errol claimed to be aware of only one of the allegations, but later provided explanations for two others later in the same message.

Elon Musk did not respond to reporters for the exposé, but did tell Rolling Stone in 2019 that Errol had done “almost every evil thing you could possibly think of.”