Elon Musk – the biggest conflict of interest?

The first big COI issue of the season. It will be interesting to see it unfold.

According to a recent piece in The Guardian: Elon Musk, “the richest man on Earth, has a wider and deeper range of potential conflicts of interest with the federal government than perhaps any person has ever had.” https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/23/elon-musk-conflict-of-interest-benefits The potential conflict arises, in part, from Musk’s having been  named to serve as co-lead of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).   As detailed in The Guardian: “Musk owns, directs or invests in a wide .array of industries, touching dozens of departments and agencies of the federal government, from the Department of Transportation with Tesla, to the Department of Defense with SpaceX, to the Department of Health and Human Services with Neural ink. His companies are the subject of federal investigations and regulatory actions, including accusations of hiring discrimination, environmental damage and safety deficiencies.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote to Donald Trump in this connection:  “Mr. Musk’s substantial private interests present a massive conflict of interest with the role he has taken on as your ‘unofficial co-president,’” “Currently, the American public has no way of knowing whether the advice that he is whispering to you in secret is good for the country—or merely good for his own bottom line.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/12/17/elon-musk-should-face-conflict-of-interest-rules-for-trump-doge-work-elizabeth-warren-argues/

Of course, all these relationships do not prove that a conflict (or conflicts) exists. However, they speak to the likelihood of risk, which seems high.

The response to this was that  Musk is so rich he’s “removed from the potential financial influence.” https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/sununu-musk-too-rich-conflicts-of-interest-1235220668/ 

However, based on my more than 40 years’ experience  practicing criminal and compliance law this is not how it works. The rich are often the worst when it comes to all manners of business ethics. Indeed, one need  look no further than a then-young but wealthy Trump’s cheating  his  economically vulnerable subcontractors on some of his projects. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/

As noted above, this issue is far from resolved and I look forward to seeing how it develops.