Closing month, Insider printed an explosive record a few former SpaceX flight attendant who accused SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk of propositioning her for intercourse in 2016 and to whom the corporate paid $250,000 to stay quiet. Musk in an instant categorised the tale “a politically motivated hit piece,” whilst SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell got here to Musk’s protection in a company-wide e-mail lined via CNBC by which she wrote: “Individually, I consider the allegations to be false; no longer as a result of I paintings for Elon, however as a result of I’ve labored carefully with him for twenty years and not observed nor heard the rest similar to those allegations.”

Alas, a brand new and way more destructive Insider record is striking Shotwell — and each different govt insider Musk’s more than a few firms — in an much more uncomfortable place.

In keeping with the tale, printed overdue this afternoon, “court docket paperwork acquired via Insider display that the tech magnate Elon Musk quietly had twins remaining November with one in every of his most sensible executives, Shivon Zilis. In April, Musk, 51, and Zilis, 36, filed a petition to modify the twins’ names in an effort to ‘have their father’s remaining identify and include their mom’s remaining identify as a part of their center identify.’” The order used to be authorized via a pass judgement on in Austin in Might, provides the record, and the “twins have been born weeks sooner than Musk and Claire Boucher, the musician who plays as Grimes, had their 2d kid by the use of surrogate in December.”

Zilis (or somebody performing on her behalf) has already got rid of any point out of Neuralink from a web site about her background, in addition to dismantled her LinkedIn web page.

Till lately, that very same web page said that the paintings enjoy of Zilis — a Yale graduate who started her occupation at IBM, then invested on behalf of the Bloomberg-backed undertaking outfit Bloomberg Beta till early 2016 —  integrated Neuralink, Tesla and OpenAI.

All 3, in fact, have deep ties to Musk, who based Neuralink, cofounded OpenAI and assumed management of Tesla again in 2008.

Particularly, says Insider, Zilis first met Musk in 2016 whilst a director at OpenAI, the place she is now the youngest member on its board of administrators.

In 2017, she reportedly joined Tesla as a mission director.

As of late, Zilis holds the identify of director of operations and particular tasks for Neuralink, the place Musk is a co-CEO.

The hole additionally says that Zilis has lately been floated as some of the other folks Musk may faucet to run Twitter if his proposed $44 billion acquisition of the corporate is going ahead as anticipated.

TechCrunch has no longer independently verified Insider’s account. Musk, who’s normally extremely energetic on Twitter and who didn’t reply to requests for remark from Insider (neither did Zilis), is in the meantime final mum for now, regardless that he remaining month tweeted that falling delivery charges within the U.S. are a “demographic crisis,” including, “I imply, I’m doing my phase haha.”

The most important query the tale raises, past what number of youngsters Musk plans to father — it’s having a look like he has no less than 9 with more than a few companions — is whether or not any of those firms have fraternization insurance policies that limit romantic relationships between a supervisor and a reporting team of workers member.

Whilst maximum firms the scale of Tesla and SpaceX limit courting relationships between staff who’re separated via two ranges within the chain of command, Musk is understood for flaunting conventional laws. (A Tesla worker manual from 2020 isn’t precisely usual fare, caution that “Our assumption will likely be that when you don’t name and don’t display up for paintings, you’re a jerk. You higher have a actually excellent explanation why for no longer letting us know why you didn’t are available in otherwise you’re out of right here.”)

Even supposing Neuralink, Tesla and OpenAI (the place Musk disassociated himself in 2019) wouldn’t have insurance policies in position combating fraternization, this new record is vastly problematic. Musk having secret youngsters with an immediate record will clearly turn out an enormous distraction to different staffers. It’s dangerous for morale, which is the very last thing that Tesla particularly would appear to want at this time given its many different worker battles. It will additionally open up Musk’s firms to large complaints from Zilis if one day down the street, she comes to a decision he abused the facility he wielded as CEO.

No longer remaining, regardless that most likely least relating to, the advance will most probably no longer be seemed on kindly via the U.S. executive, which has already been cold towards Tesla below the Biden management. (The federal government is a one by one a big buyer of SpaceX, the place Zilis has no longer been an worker.)

Within the intervening time, the record makes the board of administrators at Musk’s firms glance astonishingly lax, and it places defenders like Shotwell within the place of getting to reassure staff that Musk has the similar laser-like center of attention on his firms’ good fortune as he says he expects of them. Without a doubt she is being requested to do this this night, possibly in every other company-wide e-mail. We don’t envy her the process.