The DOJ and SEC are investigating a top secret project Tesla has been working on over the last year
By Michelle Duncan and Katie Schultz
Elon Musk’s estimated net worth is upwards of $240 billion.Photo: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Could Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, be reneging on the promise he made in a 2020 tweet to “own no house”? Reports from the Wall Street Journal say that’s a possibility—and the Tesla CEO could be facing some legal woes as a result.
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission are separately investigating Tesla’s funding for a top secret “Project 42.” According to insiders at the multi-billionaire’s electric vehicle company, the project entailed a glass-walled building near the company’s headquarters just outside Austin, Texas. Described internally as a house for Musk, one rendering showed a
striking glass building resembling Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue Apple store complete with bedrooms, bathrooms, and a kitchen. Another iteration showed a twisted hexagon on waterfront land with the Tesla factory in the background. Yet another interpretation of the building, the plans for which apparently morphed many times, showed a waterfall feature as part of the landscaping and a vehicle that looked a lot like Tesla’s yet-to-be-launched Cybertruck approaching the structure. Amongst people close to the project, a museum was even rumored to be part of the plans.