DOGE may help Elon Musk's biz empire dodge $2.4B in liabilities – Senate probe

Dem Sens demand action to stop SpaceX oligarch from turning watchdogs into corporate yes-men

The Trump-blessed DOGE unit could help its boss Elon Musk avoid more than $2.37 billion in potential legal liabilities by stripping power from the regulators tasked with supervising the billionaire's businesses. 

According to a new Senate report, Musk maintained full control over his sprawling empire — including SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, xAI, and the Boring Company — even after the President tasked him to lead the cost-trimming, data-scouring DOGE effort. As head of that unit, Musk has exercised sweeping influence over the very agencies tasked with regulating his businesses, the senators say.

The report notes that Musk has done nothing to separate himself from his companies since taking a position as a special US government employee, and refers to his decisions in his role heading up DOGE as being marked by "self-enrichment and avoiding what he perceives as obstacles to advancing his own interests."

Democratic Senators fear that Musk's conflicts of interest could be "unrivaled by the worst insider trading," and argue it sets a dangerous precedent that undermines government integrity. That's not hypothetical either, they allege, pointing to the Department of Justice's sudden unexplained dismissal of a discrimination suit against SpaceX and the resignation of the head of the FAA, reportedly after pressure from Musk. 

That $2.37 billion figure comes from Democratic staff on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, who tallied potential financial liabilities tied to 40 of 65 active or potential enforcement actions involving Musk's companies across 11 different federal agencies.

Those matters include Neuralink's liability for alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act surrounding its treatment of monkeys and pigs, Tesla's potentially false or misleading statements regarding the capability of Autopilot, SpaceX's alleged failure to comply with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launch requirements and more. 

The remaining 25 investigations, which include allegations of unlawful retaliation and interference with union organizing at SpaceX and Tesla, as well as multiple National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) probes into Tesla's self-driving technology, couldn't be quantified, the report noted.

Musk and his companies could gain millions or even billions more simply by avoiding the time, legal fees, and risk of being ordered to undertake remediation efforts or change labor practices

In other words, $2.37 billion is "a credible, conservative estimate" that "drastically understates the true benefit Mr. Musk may gain from legal risk avoidance," the committee explained. 

"Musk and his companies could gain millions or even billions more simply by avoiding the time, legal fees, and risk of being ordered to undertake remediation efforts or change labor practices," the report added. "This figure also does not include the many billions of dollars that Mr. Musk and his companies could gain in other ways, including through new contracts … or the competitive advantage they may gain by collecting intelligence on competitors." 

"No one individual, no matter how prominent or wealthy, is above the law," the report concluded. "Anything less than decisive, immediate, and collective action risks America becoming a bystander to the surrender to modern oligarchy." 

Following up on the report's findings, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), ranking minority member on the Subcommittee on Investigations, also sent letters [PDF] to Musk's companies demanding additional information about potential conflicts of interest and access to non-public government information stemming from Musk's role at DOGE.

Blumenthal asked Musk's businesses to report on all pending federal investigations, litigation, and regulatory proceedings as of January 20; explain what measures, if any, they have taken to prevent Musk's DOGE activities from interfering with those matters; and disclose whether any non-public agency information had been provided to them since Musk assumed his government role.

The letters note that the Senators arrived at their report despite "abjectly inadequate cooperation" from Musk's companies, none of whom have "provided satisfactory responses" to the subcommittee's questions. 

Speaking of ignoring questions, neither Musk nor any of his companies have responded to our inquiries for this story. ®