Things get messy for Elon Musk with report about new twins he shares with Neuralink exec – TechCrunch

Final month, Insider revealed an explosive report a few former SpaceX flight attendant who accused SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk of propositioning her for intercourse in 2016 and to whom the corporate paid $250,000 to maintain quiet. Musk instantly labeled the story “a politically motivated hit piece,” whereas SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell got here to Musk’s protection in a company-wide e-mail coated by CNBC by which she wrote: “Personally, I imagine the allegations to be false; not as a result of I work for Elon, however as a result of I’ve labored intently with him for 20 years and by no means seen nor heard something resembling these allegations.”

Alas, a brand new and much more damaging Insider report is placing Shotwell — and each different govt insider Musk’s numerous firms — in an much more uncomfortable place.

In response to the story, revealed late this afternoon, “courtroom paperwork obtained by Insider present that the tech mogul Elon Musk quietly had twins final November with one in every of his high executives, Shivon Zilis. In April, Musk, 51, and Zilis, 36, filed a petition to alter the twins’ names as a way to ‘have their father’s final title and include their mom’s final title as a part of their center title.’” The order was accredited by a decide in Austin in Might, provides the report, and the “twins have been born weeks earlier than Musk and Claire Boucher, the musician who performs as Grimes, had their second little one by way of surrogate in December.”

Zilis (or somebody performing on her behalf) has already eliminated any point out of Neuralink from an internet site about her background, in addition to dismantled her LinkedIn web page.

Till not too long ago, that very same web page said that the work expertise of Zilis — a Yale graduate who started her profession at IBM, then invested on behalf of the Bloomberg-backed enterprise outfit Bloomberg Beta till early 2016 —  included Neuralink, Tesla and OpenAI.

All three, in fact, have deep ties to Musk, who based Neuralink, cofounded OpenAI and assumed management of Tesla again in 2008.

Particularly, says Insider, Zilis first met Musk in 2016 whereas a director at OpenAI, the place she is now the youngest member on its board of administrators.

In 2017, she reportedly joined Tesla as a challenge director.

At the moment, Zilis holds the title of director of operations and particular initiatives for Neuralink, the place Musk is a co-CEO.

The outlet additionally says that Zilis has not too long ago been floated as one of many individuals Musk might faucet to run Twitter if his proposed $44 billion acquisition of the corporate goes ahead as anticipated.

TechCrunch has not independently verified Insider’s account. Musk, who is usually extremely energetic on Twitter and who didn’t reply to requests for remark from Insider (neither did Zilis), is in the meantime remaining mum for now, although he final month tweeted that falling start charges within the U.S. are a “demographic catastrophe,” including, “I imply, I’m doing my half haha.”

The largest query the story raises, past what number of youngsters Musk plans to father — it’s wanting like he has at the least 9 with numerous companions — is whether or not any of those firms have fraternization insurance policies that prohibit romantic relationships between a supervisor and a reporting employees member.

Whereas most firms the dimensions of Tesla and SpaceX prohibit courting relationships between staff who’re separated by two ranges within the chain of command, Musk is understood for flaunting conventional guidelines. (A Tesla worker handbook from 2020 isn’t precisely customary fare, warning that “Our assumption shall be that for those who don’t name and don’t present up for work, you’re a jerk. You higher have a very good motive for not letting us know why you didn’t are available in otherwise you’re out of right here.”)

Even when Neuralink, Tesla and OpenAI (the place Musk disassociated himself in 2019) would not have insurance policies in place stopping fraternization, this new report is vastly problematic. Musk having secret youngsters with a direct report will clearly show an enormous distraction to different staffers. It’s dangerous for morale, which is the very last thing that Tesla specifically would appear to wish proper now given its many different worker battles. It might additionally open up Musk’s firms to large lawsuits from Zilis if sooner or later down the street, she decides he abused the ability he wielded as CEO.

Not final, although probably least regarding, the event will most likely not be seemed on kindly by the U.S. authorities, which has already been chilly towards Tesla beneath the Biden administration. (The federal government is a individually a big buyer of SpaceX, the place Zilis has not been an worker.)

Within the meantime, the report makes the board of administrators at Musk’s firms look astonishingly lax, and it places defenders like Shotwell within the place of getting to reassure staff that Musk has the identical laser-like give attention to his firms’ success as he says he expects of them. Little doubt she is being requested to try this tonight, maybe in one other company-wide e-mail. We don’t envy her the job.