Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Friday afternoon that the company is creating a new “hardcore litigation department” that will directly execute lawsuits against opponents.
The statement from Musk comes after the company was removed from S&P 500 ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Index because “because of issues including claims of racial discrimination and crashes linked to its autopilot vehicles,” Reuters reported. “Factors contributing to its departure from the index included Tesla’s lack of published details related to its low carbon strategy or business conduct codes, said Margaret Dorn, S&P Dow Jones Indices’ head of ESG indices for North America.”
“Tesla is building a hardcore litigation department where we directly initiate & execute lawsuits,” Musk tweeted. “The team will report directly to me.”
Musk said that he commits to never seek victory in a just case against Tesla, even if the company is likely to win, and that he will never surrender a case against the company that is unjust, even if the company is likely to lose.
“Looking for hardcore streetfighters, not white-shoe lawyers like Perkins or Cooley who thrive on corruption,” Musk continued. “There will be blood.”
Musk was in the news this week after a story broke yesterday about an incident that allegedly happened at one of his other companies, SpaceX, where a female flight attendant accused him of sexual misconduct.
Business Insider reported that a flight attendant who worked as a contractor for SpaceX’s corporate jet fleet accused Musk of exposing himself to her several years ago, touching her, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.
“For the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue,” Musk said on Twitter. “But I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me ‘exposed’ – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened.”
Musk said that the “friend” in the story who reportedly gave details of the alleged incident to Business Insider “is a far left activist/actress in LA with a major political axe to grind.”
The report said that the company settled the claim for $250,000.
The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro responded to the story by writing: “That amount of money for a settlement of this sort is absolutely de minimis, and everyone who understands corporate law knows this.”
“In other words, when you sue one of the most valuable people on earth and get a settlement of $250,000, that’s nearly always just the guy getting rid of something he considers a nuisance, not an admission of guilt,” Shapiro added.
Musk has warned repeatedly on Twitter in recent days that “political attacks on me will escalate dramatically in coming months” in response to him buying Twitter. “Watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold,” Musk added.
This is a developing news story; refresh the page for updates.