VOSS Posted October 26 Posted October 26 Quote Long before he became one of Donald Trump's biggest donors and campaign surrogates, South African-born Elon Musk worked illegally in the United States as he launched his entrepreneurial career after ditching a graduate studies program in California, according to former business associates, court records and company documents obtained by The Washington Post. Musk in recent months has amplified the Republican presidential candidate's claims that "open borders" and undocumented immigrants are destroying America, broadcasting those views to more than 200 million followers on the site formerly known as Twitter, which Musk bought in 2022 and later renamed X. What Musk has not publicly disclosed is that he did not have the legal right to work while building the company that became Zip2, which sold for about $300 million in 1999. It was Musk's steppingstone to Tesla and the other ventures that have made him the world's wealthiest person — and arguably America's most successful immigrant. Musk and his brother, Kimbal, have often described their immigrant journey in romantic terms, as a time of personal austerity, undeterred ambition and a willingness to flout conventions. Musk arrived in Palo Alto in 1995 for a graduate degree program at Stanford University but never enrolled in courses, working instead on his start-up. Leaving school left Musk without a legal basis to remain in the United States, according to legal experts. Musk's freewheeling business approach soon conflicted with Zip2's hopes of becoming a public company or entering a high-profile merger, which would have subjected it to scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to former associates. When the venture capital firm Mohr Davidow Ventures poured $3 million into Musk's company in 1996, the funding agreement — a copy of which was obtained by The Post —stated that the Musk brothers and an associate had 45 days to obtain legal work status. Otherwise, the firm could reclaim its investment. "Their immigration status was not what it should be for them to be legally employed running a company in the U.S.," said Derek Proudian, a Zip2 board member at the time who later became chief executive. Investors agreed, Proudian said: "We don't want our founder being deported." "We want to take care of this long before there's anything that could screw up" the company's path to an initial public offering, Proudian recalled. In Elon Musk's public retelling of his immigration story, he has never acknowledged having worked without proper legal status. In 2013, he joked about being in a "gray area" early in his career. And in 2020, Musk said he had a "student-work visa" after deferring his studies at Stanford. Musk, his attorney Alex Spiro and the manager of Musk's family office did not respond to emailed requests for comment. U.S. immigration records generally are not open to the public, making it difficult to independently confirm a person's legal status. In 2005, Musk acknowledged in a late-night email that he did not have authorization to be in the United States when he founded Zip2. The email, from Musk to Tesla co-founders Martin Eberhard and JB Straubel, was submitted as evidence in a long-since-closed California defamation lawsuit and said he applied to Stanford so he could remain in the United States legally. Musk never enrolled at Stanford. In a May 2009 deposition, he said he called the department chair two days after the start of the semester to say he wasn't going to attend. In the same deposition, he said he began working at Zip2 — originally called Global Link Information Network — in August or September 1995. Upon not enrolling, Musk would have had to leave the country, according to legal experts and immigration laws at the time. He would not have been allowed to work. The revelation that Musk lacked the legal right to work in the United States stands at odds with his recent focus on undocumented immigrants and U.S. border security, among the issues that have led him to spend more than $100 million helping Trump return to the White House. If Trump wins on Nov. 5, both men have said Musk could have a high-profile role in his administration. On X, Musk has become an avid booster of anti-immigrant rhetoric, falsely accusing Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats of "importing voters." Undocumented immigrants are legally barred from voting. In February, he wrote that "illegals in America can get … insurance, driver's licenses." Musk would have been required to have both to drive a vehicle, which associates attested he frequently did during the time he lacked a legal work permit. Last month, Elon Musk called himself "extremely pro immigrant, being one myself. However, just as when hiring for a company, we should confirm that anyone allowed into the country is talented, hardworking and ethical." But Musk appeared to have benefited from his backers' initial inattention to his own status, according to former business associates. "Perhaps naively we never examined whether he was a legal citizen," said one key investor in Musk's first company, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue. "He had a burning desire to be successful. We were investing in him. … We felt that he was really driven." Documents obtained by The Post show that Zip2's executives met with immigration attorney Jocelyne Lew on Feb. 21, 1996, to discuss potential visa pathways for the Musk brothers and another Canadian co-founder. Lew advised the men to downplay their leadership roles with the company and scrub their résumés of U.S. addresses that might suggest they were already living and working in the United States, the documents show. Lew encouraged Musk to seek another student visa from the University of Pennsylvania, where he had studied as an undergraduate, the documents show. She also directed him to obtain passport-size photos that would allow him to apply to the U.S. "visa lottery," according to the files. Lew did not respond to requests for comment. Proudian, the former Zip2 board member and investor, said the board worried that the founders' lack of legal immigration status would have to be disclosed in an SEC filing if the company were to go public. He recalled the Musks' work authorizations coming through around 1997. A person who joined Zip2's human resources department in 1997 remembers processing work visas for the Musks and other family members under a category available to Canadians under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Legal experts said Elon Musk also might have violated the law by persuading his brother to come run the company. A 1986 federal law made it a crime to knowingly hire someonewho does not have work authorization. Musk said in 2003 and 2009 that he "convinced" Kimbal to come from Canada to work for his company. "I tried to get a visa, but there's just no visa you can get to do a start-up," Kimbal said in a 2021 interview. "I was definitely illegal." Source
LegaMyth Posted October 26 Posted October 26 I get it. But, he is also creating jobs for Americans, regardless of how trifling he is. 3 7
Trent W Posted October 26 Posted October 26 4 minutes ago, LegaMyth said: I get it. But, he is also creating jobs for Americans, regardless of how trifling he is. The irony is that he is an illegal immigrant(or once was) supporting the most vocally xenophobic president of all time
45seconds Posted October 26 Posted October 26 9 minutes ago, LegaMyth said: I get it. But, he is also creating jobs for Americans, regardless of how trifling he is. Who he fires on a whim. Overworks, harasses while also trying to get a man who would have someone like him deported. Elon Musk's companies are not some too big to fail company.
shoganai Posted October 26 Posted October 26 Besides that, the fact the american government lets this rich fool do whatever he wants and they also collaborate with him is crazy
Princess Aurora Posted October 26 Posted October 26 It's always the illegals attacking other illegals. I see the patterns.... 1
Onyxmage Posted October 26 Posted October 26 Theres literally a video where he and his brother are being interviewed and the brother openly says were were ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Elon is a special kind of evil.
Onyxmage Posted October 26 Posted October 26 (edited) 1 hour ago, LegaMyth said: I get it. But, he is also creating jobs for Americans, regardless of how trifling he is. Creating jobs for Americans doesnt mean you can attack immigrants for being dangerous when you were one yourself. He is arguably more dangerous than more than 99% of illegal immigrants in America. Edited October 26 by Onyxmage
Rep2000 Posted October 26 Posted October 26 1 hour ago, LegaMyth said: I get it. But, he is also creating jobs for Americans, regardless of how trifling he is. Like, he literally gutted 80% of Twitter's workforce on day 1. "Creating jobs" my ass.
LegaMyth Posted October 26 Posted October 26 22 minutes ago, Rep2000 said: Like, he literally gutted 80% of Twitter's workforce on day 1. "Creating jobs" my ass. Thats twitter. What about the many jobs he has created for Tesla?
Rep2000 Posted October 27 Posted October 27 1 hour ago, LegaMyth said: Thats twitter. What about the many jobs he has created for Tesla? You meant the company which he bought and then stole the founders' credits, then try to pass that credit on himself? That Tesla?
Recommended Posts