SpaceX owner Elon Musk has denied exposing himself to a female flight attendant on one of the company's planes and paying her £250,000 to stay quiet.
It comes amid Elon Musk's attempts to buy social media giant Twitter, to which he wants to make changes including the ability to edit Tweets.
What are the claims against Elon Musk?
The billionaire allegedly asked a female employee of SpaceX for sex as she performed a massage during a flight to London in 2016, reports the Business Insider.
According to the claimant, Musk rubbed her leg and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage, and exposed himself.
The source also said that the employee found Musk "completely naked except for a sheet covering the lower half of his body," before he "touched her thigh" and "offered to buy her a horse" if she would "do more," which was interpreted as performing sex acts.
Musk exposed himself later in the massage after the woman had declined his proposition, the source said.
A friend of the woman, who remains unnamed, also alleges that the tycoon invited her to his room on the plane for a "full body massage".
Massage therapists are employed by SpaceX for executives, with the woman in question encouraged by her peers to pay for her own massage lessons, according to her friend.
"They encouraged her to get licensed as a masseuse, but on her own time, on her own dime. They implied that she would get to fly more often if she were to do this because she’d be able to give Elon proper massages," they added.
The source said that her friend was "really upset" and "didn't know what to do".
In November 2018, SpaceX, which is owned by Musk, and the flight attendant allegedly reached a severance agreement outside court.
This included a $250,000 payment in exchange for not suing and non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements preventing the attendant from talking about Musk, the company or the payment, according to reports.
What has Elon Musk said about the claims?
Musk has taken to Twitter, which he is currently trying to buy, to deny the claims against him.
Posting on the social media platform on Thursday night, the CEO said the allegations were "utterly untrue".
"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," he said.
He also stated the claims were "politically motivated" after he said on Wednesday that he would vote Republican instead of Democrat and predicted a "dirty tricks campaign" against him.
Tweeting on Thursday, he said: "The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook – but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech."
According to Musk, the claims also aim to interfere with his attempts to buy Twitter.
