X owner Elon Musk has confirmed that he’s behind a secret account that engaged with explicit posts about former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, posted odd responses to MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, and interacted with off-the-wall FTX conspiracies, a lawsuit transcript reveals.
Musk is being sued by 22-year-old college grad student Ben Brody over posts he shared supporting a right-wing conspiracy theory that falsely linked Brody to a clash of right-wing groups in Oregon.
During a March deposition, Musk was grilled by Brody’s lawyer, Mark Bankston and admitted that he owns the @Ermnmusk X account.
The account has posted various controversial takes and wild claims, even reportedly engaging with conspiracy theories alleging that FTX acted as a middleman in laundering funds through Ukraine on behalf of US democrats.
It also responded to a post sexualizing Caroline Ellison, posting “I 💜librarians” underneath a picture of the former Alameda CEO. Musk also responded to a post from MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, asking him “Do you like Japanese girls?”
Musk claimed his burner account was just used for ‘testing.’
Musk claims it was a ‘test account’
It was suggested last year that @Ermnmusk was run by the Tesla boss after he shared a screenshot revealing its profile picture on his device. Additionally, the account also made posts while in character as X Æ A-12, Musk’s now four-year-old son.
When Bankston asked Musk about the account, he said, “I would not use this account,” adding “It was just used for — for testing.”
Brody’s lawsuit accuses Musk of defaming him in a series of X posts. In one of these posts, Musk responded to a blogger’s theories about the right-wing clash by saying “Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation.”
However, Brody was in California when the groups clashed during an Oregon LGBTQ pride event. The evidence linking Brody seemingly relied on his resemblance to an individual pictured at the clash. Brody claims Musk’s posts led to individuals harassing himself and his family to the point where they had to flee their home.