Thai Cave Diver Sues Musk for Libel

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk has been sued for libel by a British diver who helped rescue a dozen teenagers trapped in a flooded Thai cave in July.

BBC News reports that Vernon Unsworth’s claim before a court in California seeks $75,000 in compensation and punitive damages over Musk’s repeated but unsubstantiated claim to his 22 million Twitter followers that Unsworth is a pedophile and “child rapist.”

Unsworth is preparing to submit a similar lawsuit in London, according to the California filing.

Musk’s original comments were sparked by Unsworth’s dismissal as “just a PR stunt” a mini-sub developed by Musk’s SpaceX company that Musk thought might aid in the rescue. Unsworth asserted that the sub had “absolutely no chance of working” in the sometimes narrow network of caves. He also inelegantly suggested to cable news network CNN that Musk could “stick his submarine where it hurts.”

Musk deleted the tweets and later apologized to Unsworth. But he revived his claim last week in an email to a Buzzfeed reporter, claiming that Unsworth had recently moved to northern Thailand “for a child bride who was about 12 years old.”

Unsworth’s attorney retorts to the BBC that “there’s not a shred or scintilla of evidence” to support any of Musk’s accusations.