Recently, I noticed something very interesting—Elon Musk's rapid expansion of influence within the U.S. government, yet he manages to cleverly avoid the financial disclosure obligations that ordinary officials are required to fulfill.

Musk was appointed as a Special Government Employee (SGE), a status that grants him a "get out of jail free" card. Under U.S. law, cabinet members must disclose their personal financial information to avoid conflicts of interest, but SGEs only need to fill out a confidential financial disclosure form, which is shared only with the White House and the Office of Government Ethics, not made public. It sounds legal, but the problem is—Musk is not an ordinary SGE advisor.

In just two weeks, he sent emails to over 2 million federal employees urging early retirement, persuaded Trump to restrict the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and even gained access to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s payment systems. A former White House ethics advisor bluntly pointed out that this title is just a means for Musk to evade financial disclosure.

So how much wealth does Musk actually control? His net worth is currently estimated at about $420 billion (as of February 2025), mostly from Tesla ($210 billion) and shares in private companies like SpaceX, X, and xAI ($191 billion). These companies are deeply intertwined with the U.S. government—SpaceX secures billions in federal contracts yet collaborates with USAID, which Musk wants to shut down; Tesla heavily depends on the Chinese market. These potential conflicts of interest are countless.

Musk also holds $9.5 billion in cash and liquid investments, along with $3.5 billion in bank debt. Such a massive wealth structure cannot exist without hidden conflicts of interest. Interestingly, there’s no evidence he has submitted the necessary financial disclosures, and the White House has only issued a vague statement saying he "serves selflessly."

Ethics experts generally express skepticism. A former Obama administration official bluntly stated, “Musk has such enormous wealth that he can’t possibly be aware of all potential conflicts of interest. And I don’t believe the current administration is interested in investigating him.” This combination of power and wealth, coupled with a lack of transparency, indeed warrants everyone’s attention.