Errol Musk, the 79-year-old father of tech billionaire Elon Musk, has been accused of sexually abusing five of his children and stepchildren over a span of decades, according to a report by The New York Times on Tuesday.
The media outlet said the earliest allegations date back to 1993, when a four-year-old stepdaughter told relatives that Errol had touched her at the family’s home. A decade later, the same stepdaughter alleged she caught him sniffing her dirty underwear. Other family members also accused him of abusing two of his daughters and a stepson.
Court records, social workers’ notes, personal correspondence, and interviews cited by the Times suggested at least three separate law enforcement investigations were opened into Errol Musk’s conduct. Two inquiries reportedly ended without action, while the outcome of the third remained unclear.
Errol Musk has denied the allegations, dismissing them as “nonsense” and “false”. Speaking to the Times, he claimed: “There was no evidence because this is nonsense. The reports are false.” He further alleged that some family members were “putting the children up to say false things” as part of an effort to extort money from his eldest son, Elon Musk.
The Times reported that Errol, who has been married three times and has at least nine biological and stepchildren, “maintains a powerful grip over much of the family,” citing letters, emails, and interviews.
Elon Musk, who temporarily served as an adviser to the second Trump administration, declined to comment on the report. However, he has previously spoken of a strained relationship with his father. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive described Errol as a man capable of “almost every evil thing you could possibly think of.”
Recalling his childhood, Musk said he went to live with his father at age 10 while his siblings, Kimbal and Tosca, stayed with their mother. “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,’” he told the magazine.
But, he added that he quickly discovered “what kind of person he was,” calling the decision “not a good idea.” Musk also warned that his father “will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil. He will plan evil.”
