Errol Musk, the 79-year-old father of billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, has been accused of sexually abusing five of his children and stepchildren since as far back as 1993, according to a bombshell New York Times investigation.
The explosive report suggests the allegations may explain why Elon Musk has rarely spoken about his father over the years. It also revealed that some family members have reached out to Elon for help, occasionally prompting him to intervene.
Errol, who has at least nine children and stepchildren from three marriages, strongly denied the claims, dismissing them as “nonsense” and “false.”
Drawing from court filings, personal letters, emails, and interviews, the Times reported that Musk “maintains a powerful grip over much of the family.” Elon Musk himself did not respond to requests for comment.
Records indicate the first allegation surfaced in 1993, when a four-year-old stepdaughter told relatives Errol had touched her at the family home. Nearly a decade later, she alleged she once caught him sniffing her underwear. Other family members have also accused him of abusing two daughters and a stepson.
According to police and court files, three separate law enforcement investigations were launched. Two cases ended without charges, while the outcome of the third remains unclear.
“There was no evidence because this is nonsense,” Errol Musk told the Times, insisting family members were “putting the children up to say false things” in a bid to extort Elon, his eldest son.
Elon Musk has previously painted a dark picture of his father. In a 2017 Rolling Stone interview, he said his father had done “almost every evil thing you could possibly think of.”
Recalling how he chose to live with Errol at age 10 while siblings Kimbal and Tosca remained with their mother, Elon said: “I felt sorry for my father, because my mother had all three kids. He seemed very sad and lonely by himself. So I thought, ‘I can be company.’”
But the billionaire later admitted: “I didn’t really understand at the time what kind of person he was … It was not a good idea.”
Without giving details, he added: “My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil. He will plan evil.”
