WSJ: Elon Musk’s Inner Circle Is Rocked by Infighting

The Wall Street Journal reports that before Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s battle over Twitter, the billionaire faced another fight over how his charitable donations should be managed. His inner circle has been rocked by infighting focused on Musk’s choice of a Russian-born former professional gambler as the ideal person to direct his charitable donations.

The Wall Street Journal reports in an article titled “Elon Musk’s Inner Circle Rocked by Fight Over His $230 Billion Fortune,” that recently Musk has faced disputes within his personal organization over the management of his charitable donations.

Musk was reportedly relying heavily on a new adviser, a 34-year-old Russian-born former professional gambler named Igor Kurganov who spent part of the coronavirus pandemic staying at Musk’s home where they developed strategies for how Musk could spend his sizable fortune.

Musk was reportedly so impressed with Kurganov’s ideas that he wanted to leave the former gambler in charge of his charitable donations. Musk’s top deputy and head of his family office, Jared Birchall, a wealth manager, approached Elon worried about the issue.

The WSJ states that Birchall approached Musk stating: “Elon, you can’t.”

The WSJ writes:

Mr. Birchall, alarmed that Mr. Musk could be drawn into a federal investigation, this spring again pressed his internal case against Mr. Kurganov, people familiar with the matter say. It was inappropriate, in Mr. Birchall’s view, for Mr. Kurganov to have a central role in the $5.7 billion in shares that Mr. Musk had promised to donate.

During this period, Mr. Birchall was a constant presence at Mr. Musk’s side as his boss pursued Twitter. He helped line up billions of dollars in financing and spoke to shareholders and investors on Mr. Musk’s behalf about the future of the social-networking service.

By spring, the Tesla CEO’s bid for Twitter required him to put up tens of billions of dollars in personal funding and was consuming much of his attention. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock was dropping as the broader market pulled back, pinching Mr. Musk’s net worth.

Eventually, Birchall asked Musk to remove the professional gambler from his post in May, and Musk agreed to make the change.

 

Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan