Elon Musk paid a felon $50K to probe cave diver he called a ‘pedo’ after the con man said he was MI5

Elon Musk paid a convicted felon over $50,000 to investigate a man suing him for defamation.

A court filing submitted in that case last month by one of Musk’s employees revealed that the billionaire had hired a man by the name of James Howard to investigate Vernon Unsworth.

That filing said that Howard had reached out to Musk offering up his services on the very same day that the Tesla founder called Unsworth – the British expat and diver who helped to rescue the group of Thai boys who became stuck in a cave – a ‘pedo guy.’ 

Howard was hired one month later, after claiming in emails that he ‘served in the United Kingdom Special Forces for eleven years and the United Kingdom Security Service (commonly known as MI5) for two years’

He also claimed to have worked with George Soros and Paul Allen, and said his firm had provided security for the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. 

Secret agent man: Howard-Higgins (above) said he ‘served in the United Kingdom Special Forces for eleven years and … MI5 for two years’

Buzzfeed is now reporting however that James Howard is actually James Howard-Higgins, a man who served time for stealing money from his business partners and defrauded his own company multiple times.

He also never worked for Soros, did not provide security as he detailed at Cannes, and was not a member of MI5.

That being said, he did prove himself to be a Moneypenny of sorts. 

‘James Howard-Higgins systematically stole from his business partner over a sustained period of time despite being caught in the act and given numerous second chances,’ a detective constable wrote at the time of his arrest in 2016. 

‘He selfishly abused his position of trust.’

He was eventually sentenced to three years behind bars after stealing $320,000 from his company and then opening a credit card in another individual’s name after his partners had agreed to absorb the debt he had previously accumulated by lifting funds. 

One of the companies founder’s, Mark Wood, provided a reference for Howard-Higgins to Buzzfeed, stating: ‘The enormity of his deception and fraudulent actions within the business led me to call in the police.

‘With a prison record it ought to be difficult to continue in this same line of business. Sadly it appears not to be the case.’

Howard-Higgins seemed to win over Musk by stroking his ego, stating in the firm email that he agreed with Musk’s assessment of Unsworth and suggesting there would almost certainly be evidence once he began to look into the cave diver’s past. 

He then fed Musk information that never outright confirmed his claim but did not dispute it either, with many of the emails from Project Rowena shared in court filings. 

Two days after he was hired, Howard-Higgins wrote: ‘Early conversations would indicate that he feels that any questions they may have had prior or post cave recovery would be suppressed as the Thai local and federal government are using the success to boost tourism and divert Thailand away from its historical sex tourist industry. 

‘I will have more feedback and timelines for you over the weekend. There is no question that the target “associates” locally with Europeans who enjoy ‘Thai comforts’ that are not acceptable in a developed society.’ 

There is no evidence that Unsworth did any of the things that Howard-Higgins suggested in these emails.