How Elon Musk’s SpaceX Secretly Allows Investment From China
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As a U.S. military contractor, SpaceX sees allowing Chinese ownership as fraught. But it will allow the investment if it comes through secrecy hubs like the Cayman Islands, court records say. “It is certainly a policy of obfuscation,” an expert said.
https://www.propublica.org/article/elon-musk-spacex-allows-china-investment-cayman-islands-secrecy?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
ProPublicaHow Elon Musk’s SpaceX Secretly Allows Investment From China
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![Sub-heading and text:
Starlink at the White House
Starlink, a satellite internet provider owned by SpaceX, has been installed on the White House campus, according to a Monday report from the New York Times:
[block quote]
Starlink terminals, rectangular panels that receive internet signals beamed from SpaceX satellites in low-Earth orbit, can be placed on physical structures. But instead of being physically placed at the White House, the Starlink system is now said to be routed through a White House data center, with existing fiber cables, miles from the complex. White House officials said the installation was an effort to increase internet availability at the complex. They said that some areas of the property could not get cell service and that the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure was overtaxed… White House officials said that Starlink had “donated” the service and that the gift had been vetted by the lawyer overseeing ethics issues in the White House Counsel’s Office.
[end block quote]
This is a bizarre arrangement that provides no clear technical benefit, as internet speeds from Starlink’s satellites are easily outclassed by its terrestrial competitors. Jake Williams, a cybersecurity expert who spoke to the Times, said he had never heard of the government doing anything like it. “It introduces another attack point,” Williams said. “But why introduce that risk?”](https://assets.newsie.social/media_attachments/files/114/207/655/208/283/567/original/1d6e63f4abc0974b.png "Sub-heading and text:
Starlink at the White House
Starlink, a satellite internet provider owned by SpaceX, has been installed on the White House campus, according to a Monday report from the New York Times:
[block quote]
Starlink terminals, rectangular panels that receive internet signals beamed from SpaceX satellites in low-Earth orbit, can be placed on physical structures. But instead of being physically placed at the White House, the Starlink system is now said to be routed through a White House data center, with existing fiber cables, miles from the complex. White House officials said the installation was an effort to increase internet availability at the complex. They said that some areas of the property could not get cell service and that the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure was overtaxed… White House officials said that Starlink had “donated” the service and that the gift had been vetted by the lawyer overseeing ethics issues in the White House Counsel’s Office.
[end block quote]
This is a bizarre arrangement that provides no clear technical benefit, as internet speeds from Starlink’s satellites are easily outclassed by its terrestrial competitors. Jake Williams, a cybersecurity expert who spoke to the Times, said he had never heard of the government doing anything like it. “It introduces another attack point,” Williams said. “But why introduce that risk?”")
Yum Brands is bringing Nvidia's AI to a Taco Bell drive-thru near you, EVs will make up 1⁄3 of Cadillac’s vehicle line up for 2025, and NASA returned astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from space in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule after Boeing wasn’t able to.![Text from article(edited for length):
The Foreign Emoluments Clause creates a broad prohibition on accepting emoluments, which—according to the first judge to interpret the term in a 2018 case against Trump (District of Columbia v. Trump)—include “any profit, gain, or advantage, of more than de minimis value, received by [the President], directly or indirectly” from foreign governments...
Like Trump, Musk has wide-ranging business entanglements that could produce emoluments from foreign states. For example, Musk’s Tesla is heavily reliant on China—in recent years, Tesla received a $521 million loan from Chinese-state owned banks and a lower-than-standard corporate tax rate from the Shanghai government. Musk has met with prominent Chinese officials in various business dealings, and analysts have speculated that Musk’s lobbying in Congress was behind the decision to remove hostile provisions to China from a December 2024 bipartisan spending bill.
Beyond China, Musk’s company SpaceX is actively negotiating a $1.5 billion deal with the Italian government, and Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has received investments from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the latter of which also helped finance his buyout of X, along with Saudi Arabia.
Given this laundry list of foreign dealings, there is clearly the potential for Musk to receive further payments directly or indirectly from foreign governments.](https://assets.newsie.social/media_attachments/files/114/189/624/175/639/717/original/66fb81c47db623d1.png "Text from article(edited for length):
The Foreign Emoluments Clause creates a broad prohibition on accepting emoluments, which—according to the first judge to interpret the term in a 2018 case against Trump (District of Columbia v. Trump)—include “any profit, gain, or advantage, of more than de minimis value, received by [the President], directly or indirectly” from foreign governments...
Like Trump, Musk has wide-ranging business entanglements that could produce emoluments from foreign states. For example, Musk’s Tesla is heavily reliant on China—in recent years, Tesla received a $521 million loan from Chinese-state owned banks and a lower-than-standard corporate tax rate from the Shanghai government. Musk has met with prominent Chinese officials in various business dealings, and analysts have speculated that Musk’s lobbying in Congress was behind the decision to remove hostile provisions to China from a December 2024 bipartisan spending bill.
Beyond China, Musk’s company SpaceX is actively negotiating a $1.5 billion deal with the Italian government, and Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has received investments from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the latter of which also helped finance his buyout of X, along with Saudi Arabia.
Given this laundry list of foreign dealings, there is clearly the potential for Musk to receive further payments directly or indirectly from foreign governments.")