DOGE could help Musk firms avoid $2.3B in government penalties, Democrats say

Summary

Elon Musk's companies could avoid over $2.3 billion in potential fines and other liabilities thanks to Musk's unusual government position as the head of DOGE, said a memo yesterday from the Democratic staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The estimate is said to include potential liability from federal investigations, litigation, and other regulatory actions. "Since his appointment, Mr. Musk has taken a chainsaw to the federal government with no apparent regard for the law or for the people who depend on the programs and agencies he so blithely destroys... Mr. Musk's position may allow him to evade oversight, derail investigations, and make litigation disappear whenever he so chooses—on his terms and at his command," the 44-page memo said. The subcommittee's investigation found that as of January 20, "Musk and his companies were subject to at least 65 actual or potential actions by 11 different federal agencies." The memo said the subcommittee "was able to estimate potential financial liabilities for 40 of the 65 actions by eight federal agencies," resulting in the $2.37 billion total. The memo said the 40 quantifiable items include "$1.19 billion in potential liability as a result of Tesla's allegedly false or misleading statements about its autopilot and full self-driving features; $633,009 in fines from SpaceX's multiple failures to follow rocket launch requirements in 2023; a total of $713,114 in fines from 29 citations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) against SpaceX, Tesla, and The Boring Company; $281 million in potential liability from Neuralink's alleged false or misleading statements about its product risks, and many more." The $2.37 billion total does not include several National Labor Relations Board actions against SpaceX and Tesla, and doesn't include several investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into Tesla's autonomous driving technology, the memo said. According to the...