PanamaTimes

Thursday, Oct 29, 2026

Elon Musk Is Cash Broke, Uses Burner Phones: Crazy Revelations From ‘Pedo Guy’ Lawsuit

Elon Musk Is Cash Broke, Uses Burner Phones: Crazy Revelations From ‘Pedo Guy’ Lawsuit

The Tesla CEO would regularly break his phones-like criminals in movies-for security reasons.
The ongoing defamation lawsuit between Elon Musk and British diver Vernon Unsworth, whom Musk called a “pedo guy” in an impromptu tweet last summer amid the widely publicized Thai cave rescue mission, has been a gold mine of surprising facts about the billionaire entrepreneur lately.

First, it was revealed that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO had no money (which we sort of already knew). In a court filing related to the defamation case last month, Musk told lawyers representing Unsworth that he was “financially illiquid” and had no cash pay the $75,000 in damages demanded by the plaintiff.

SEE ALSO: How Elon Musk’s Pot Smoking Cost Tax Payers Millions of Dollars

Then, this month another filing shows that Musk would sometimes destroy his cellphones on purpose—yes, like criminals breaking burner phones in movies. (Also, take note, Jeff Bezos!)

“For security purposes, Mr. Musk regularly changes his cellular device, at which time his old device is imaged, wiped clean, and stored or destroyed,” a SpaceX employee said in a statement to the court dated October 1.

“Mr. Musk updates his phone (like lots of other people) and Mr. Musk occasionally has to change his phone for reasons that have to do with security and sensitive information,” Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk, told Business Insider this week.

In June and July of 2018, an international rescue effort was coordinated soon after a 12-person schoolboy soccer team was found trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand. Volunteering to help out, Musk reached out to the Thai government and ordered engineers at SpaceX and the Boring Company to design a kid-sized submarine to be used in the rescue mission.

Unsworth, who had been exploring the cave for years and served as an advisor to the rescue team at the time, said Musk’s plan had no chance of working because of the narrow passage inside that cave and alleged that the whole proposal was a PR stunt. Offended, Musk, who supposedly didn’t personally know Unsworth, called him a “pedo guy” in an angry tweet without providing any evidence.

Musk subsequently apologized and deleted the tweet. But two months later, after the boys were successfully rescued (without the use of Musk’s proposed submarine), Unsworth hit the American entrepreneur with a defamation lawsuit. The case went to trial earlier this month.

Aside from bizarre revelations about his financial situation and work habits, pre-trial court documents have also shown that Musk had hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on Unsworth and had pressured the Thai government to say nice things about his mini-submarine during the rescue mission.
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Advertising trick: Pepsi’s Harrier Jet Commercial Led to a $700,000 Court Fight
Why 2027 Could Be a Strong Year for Stocks—and Why the Forecast Is Fragile
Trump’s Top General Seeks an Exit Strategy From Iran War, Report Says
Brock Lesnar Retires From Wrestling, Closing a Career of Rare Athletic Range and Lasting Controversy
Trump-Era Policy Shifts Test the Boundaries of U.S. Institutions
Weight-Loss Drug Boom Tests the Limits of Prescription Advertising Rules
Breaking With the Past: One of the World’s Smallest Countries Changes Its Name
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Cuba’s Grid Fails Again as Fuel Crisis Deepens
Nazca Lines Flight Crash Kills Thirteen as Peru Suspends Aerodiana
OpenAI Faces Demands for Full Disclosure After Models Breach Hugging Face
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Why Americans Queue for $15 Ice Cream and a $100 Caviar Pint
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
Morgan Stanley Builds a Wall Street Lead in AI Infrastructure Finance
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Venezuela’s Earthquake Devastation Turns U.S. Investment Opportunity Into a Thirty-Seven Billion Dollar Reconstruction Challenge
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Trump Administration Pressures Banks to Restrict Financial Access for Undocumented Immigrants
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Colombia Influencer Dies After Cosmetic Procedure at Unlicensed Bogota Salon
A Quiet Bastille Day: France Grapples with World Cup Heartbreak and Leftover Fireworks
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
On the Island That Did Not Yield to Trump, There Is No Electricity, and 10 Million Live in Darkness
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
×