Elon Musk says British diver tried to make money with books and movie deals out of Thai cave rescue

Elon Musk has hit back at the British cave diver suing him for defamation for calling him a ‘pedo’ in new court documents exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com which contain texts showing how the man tried to capitalize on the rescue of a group of Thai boys with book and movie deals.  

Musk is being sued by Vernon Unsworth, a British man who lives in Thailand and who was involved in rescuing the boys after they became trapped in a flooded cave.

In July last year, the Tesla CEO tweeted that Unsworth was a ‘pedo guy’ then hired a private investigator for $50,000 in a desperate attempt to find dirt on the British native in retaliation after he mocked his efforts to save the boys with a mini submarine on national television.  

In court documents filed on Wednesday, Musk lays out how Unsworth sought to make money from the rescue by selling his version of events to news networks. 

Text messages sent by Unsworth to a Thai associate reveal how he relished in the media attention the rescue brought him and how he strategized about playing ‘hardball’ with ABC, Universal, Warner Bros and Netflix among others to try to make money out of sharing his story.  

He bragged to an associate about how ‘needed’ he was, talked about hiring an agent and ‘the best lawyers’ in his legal fight with the SpaceX billionaire, and frequently said the boys would not be alive today had he not been involved in saving them.

The texts do not diminish Musk’s attempts to find dirt on the man after he publicly called him a ‘pedo’, nor do they take away from the fact that Unsworth was involved in the rescue. 

However Musk’s attorney Alex Sprio says they demonstrate a different side to the British native and show he is not the battered party he claims to be. 

Vernon Unsworth

Elon Musk’s fight with Vernon Unsworth raged on in court documents filed by the billionaire on Wednesday which show how Unsworth tried to make money out of sharing his story of rescuing the Thai boys 

Text messages that Vernon Unsworth sent an associate in 2018 make reference to the movie deals he hoped to score by sharing his account of the Thai cave rescue. He hired an agent and advised his Thai friend not to share much of what he knew until a deal was on the table. The texts are not part of a singular conversation but took place over months

Text messages that Vernon Unsworth sent an associate in 2018 make reference to the movie deals he hoped to score by sharing his account of the Thai cave rescue. He hired an agent and advised his Thai friend not to share much of what he knew until a deal was on the table. The texts are not part of a singular conversation but took place over months 

They say Unsworth planted himself firmly in the spotlight during the rescue and that he was desperate to capitalize on it.  

Among the texts is one in which he complained about Musk receiving a letter from the Thai Prime Minister. 

Musk sent a team of engineers to Thailand and came up with the idea of using a small submarine to transport the boys individually from where they were trapped, out of the cave. 

Unsworth and his associate Thanet Natisri joked in their texts about how the submarine was too small for any of the boys at just 12 inches wide. They said the children would also have needed to be sedated to go inside it because it was so small and frightening. 

Their hundreds of texts date back to when the rescue was underway. 

Unsworth claimed to be involved in the 'main film' and dismissed a rumor that people would be 3million baht each for their participation in another

Unsworth claimed to be involved in the ‘main film’ and dismissed a rumor that people would be 3million baht each for their participation in another 

Unsworth also complained about Musk, said Tesla had financial difficulties and asked for specifics on why his mini submarine was a bad idea after blasting it on TV

Unsworth also complained about Musk, said Tesla had financial difficulties and asked for specifics on why his mini submarine was a bad idea after blasting it on TV 

Gradually, their conversation turns from talk of how to save the boys to celebrating that they all got out alive and then to Musk, the media interest in the story and how they can profit from it. 

In texts sent by Unsworth in November 2018, he said: ‘I now have an agent/representative.’ 

He told Thanet he ‘also’ needed one, and said he had ‘gone out too soon’ with his account of the rescue, suggesting that he could have made more money from sharing it if he had waited.  

TIMELINE OF THE THAI RESCUE AND MUSK AND UNSWORTH’S DISPUTE 

June 23 2018: The boys and their soccer coach become trapped in the caves

July 8: Musk tweets that he is using Tesla engineers to build a ‘kid size’ submarine to try to get them out

The Thai soccer team got lost in caves while exploring and became stuck for days. Musk offered to help and sent a team of Tesla engineers to build a submarine to get them out

The Thai soccer team got lost in caves while exploring and became stuck for days. Musk offered to help and sent a team of Tesla engineers to build a submarine to get them out 

July 8 – 10: The boys were rescued gradually in a complex mission involving hundreds of people 

July 13: Vernon Unsworth gives a CNN interview where he is asked about Musk’s plan. He calls it a ‘PR stunt’ and says: ‘He can stick it where it hurts’ in reference to the submarine 

July 15: Musk tweets calling him a ‘pedo guy’ 

Musk tweeted this last July after Unsworth told CNN the Tesla CEO's plan to rescue the boys with a submarine would not work

Musk tweeted this last July after Unsworth told CNN the Tesla CEO’s plan to rescue the boys with a submarine would not work 

July 17: Musk apologizes

August 15: Musk hires Howard after he got in touch with him saying, in an email:  ‘Dear Elon, you may wish to dig deep and look into Mr. Unsworth’s past… no smoke without fire!’

They set about launching their ‘investigation’ but go to great lengths to keep Musk separate from it. In emails, Musk’s associate Jared Birchall carried out their dealings and Musk was referred to as ‘the principle’. He and Birchall never discussed it in writing. 

August 24: Birchall emailed Howard asking for ‘confirmation that Unsworth met his wife when she was a minor’

August 25: Birchall emailed Howard saying: ‘For successful confirmation of nefarious behavior there is an additional $10k bonus’ 

August 27: Howard is instructed to launch a media ‘leak’  

‘Priority is to divert the story away from the principal and let the UK tabloids develp there [sic] story,’ he said.

He goes on to say UK readers are ‘familiar’ with Thailand ‘& its culture to welcome and protect sex tourist.

‘We call it Yellow Fever where older men leave there [sic] wives for a young Thai friend.’ 

Howard then told him in one text that he was the ‘only link on the chain who knows who the beneficiary is’.

‘The Thai team and Richard all believe that this is for a children’s charity in the UK,’ he said. 

Despite trying to get journalists to print the unsubstantiated claims, none do. 

August 28: Musk tweets in response to a follower who accused him of lying about Unsworth: ‘You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me yet?

August 30: BuzzFeed reporter emails Musk for a comment. He replies saying, among other things, that Unsworth married a ‘child bride’ and inferring that he is a rapist

September 4: BuzzFeed publishes the story 

September 5: Private Investigator emails Birchall, Musk’s associate, saying: ‘At no time have have I reported that the target is a child rapist.’

September 17: Unsworth files a lawsuit against Musk  

He also said it was ‘very stupid’ of them not to have demanded payment from an ABC journalist writing a book about the rescue. 

‘Not a £$ from Matt (crazy) very stupid of us,’ Unsworth said in one message. 

He then boasted about being contacted by another set of bookwriters. 

‘Vern You should see the email I’ve just received from Dr Harry and Dr Craig book writer. They NEED ME SO SO MUCH. Sent it on to my agent…  I’m good to play hardball had enough of book writers and film companies taking the p*ss,’ he wrote. 

Unsworth then boasted about another offer he claimed he received from the Hollywood mega-agency CAA. 

‘The email I received from Hollywood CAA first line say: you that’s me) very much top of the list. Were it not for your experience, knowledge of the cave and swift response, it no exaggeration to say those boys would most likely not be alive today. 

‘I have not replied. Will my agent will control £££$$,’ he said. 

He then said he would ‘make the divers suffer for leaving us out of the loop,’ in a reference to others involved who he said had made more than he had.  

Unsworth went on: ‘If they don’t meet me the story is not worth anything £££$$.’ 

Thanet replied: ‘Yes, Well let me know if there is any news developments regarding movie deal. It would be awesome if my part will be in it…. I’m really appreated (sic) you look out for me Vern, that mean a lot

‘And if there is anything I can help you. Please do not hesitate. Let me know, it alway (sic) an honor to meet and work with you.’ 

He then complained about authors ‘wanting everything for free’ and said he had been ‘naive’ in his handling of inquiries. 

‘They want everything FREE. That’s why no one should have helped Matt Guttman (exclamation) he will make a fortune. We have been very naieve (sic) not just you and me but Josh and everyone else.’ 

In a later exchange, they discussed about possibly being paid by National Geographic. 

‘I believe Josh has spoken with you about the National Geographic Documentary. This is a great opportunity for the 3 of us. We have a powerful story. If we stick together we can make very good,’ he said. 

The texts do not diminish Musk’s attempts to find dirt on Unsworth.

Earlier this month, the British native filed his own court papers which document the billionaire’s extensive campaign. 

Musk hired a con-artist private investigator who contacted him out of the blue when his spat with Unsworth went public, claiming he had knowledge that Unsworth was a pedophile or engaged in nefarious acts in Thailand.

Through one of his associates, Musk paid him $50,000 to travel to Thailand to look into it. 

But the investigation found nothing and Musk’s team ended up frustrated with the con artist’s efforts. 

Despite having no proof that Unsworth was anything but law-abiding, Musk sent an email to BuzzFeed claiming to have learned that he was a ‘rapist’ who had married his wife when she was a child. 

He sent the email with an ‘off the record’ prefix and was stunned when BuzzFeed published his unfounded allegations. 

Now, he says it was unfair for the outlet to do so that. He admits he had no proof of his claims but insists they came from the private investigator, despite there being no written trail of them.   

‘After spending over two weeks daily working to save the lives of 12 children and their soccer coach lost deep inside a dangerous Thai cave, Vernon Unsworth will now spend the rest of his life with the asterisk of pedophilia attached to his name as the direct result of a public relations campaign of false, heinous accusations by Elon Musk, a thin-skinned billionaire who is obsessed with his public image and who has a history of vindictively and intentionally ignoring truth to maintain that PR-created image. 

‘Like the bully that he is, Musk chose to lash out publicly at the criticism only be falsely attacking Unsworth, a relatively unknown individual, and publicly challenging him to sue for libel,’ ‘ Unsworth’s lawyers fumed in their filing earlier this month. 

Last month, Musk – who previously publicly apologized for the tweet at the insistence of the Tesla board – filed his own court papers explaining why he thinks he is innocent of defamation. 

In a motion asking the judge to dismiss the case, he doubled down on his allegations against Unsworth and included others like that he married his wife when she was a teenager and that he’d been ‘w***emongering’ girls in Thailand. 

Even though they turned out not to be true, Musk said he had no reason not to believe them because private investigator, James Howard-Higgins, told gave him the information. 

Between July 15, when Musk first issued the tweet, and August 28, he and his associate were working quietly with Howard to try to find proof that would back up the allegation, the court papers claim. 

On August 15, he hired Howard after he got in touch with him saying, in an email:  ‘Dear Elon, you may wish to dig deep and look into Mr. Unsworth’s past… no smoke without fire!’

They set about launching their ‘investigation’ but go to great lengths to keep Musk separate from it. In emails, Musk’s associate Jared Birchall carried out their dealings and Musk was referred to as ‘the principle’. He and Birchall never discussed it in writing. 

On August 25, Birchall emailed Howard saying: ‘For successful confirmation of nefarious behavior there is an additional $10k bonus’. 

Included in the lawsuit are dozens of emails and text messages exchanged between the private investigator and Musk's associate Jared Birchall. Above is an email the investigator sent highlighting what he did and did not know

Included in the lawsuit are dozens of emails and text messages exchanged between the private investigator and Musk’s associate Jared Birchall. Above is an email the investigator sent highlighting what he did and did not know 

This is a page of one of the progress reports sent to Musk's team by the private investigator in Thailand. It contains extensive details about Unsworth's life but nothing about him being a pedophile

This is a page of one of the progress reports sent to Musk’s team by the private investigator in Thailand. It contains extensive details about Unsworth’s life but nothing about him being a pedophile 

Two days later, Howard was instructed to launch a media ‘leak’, according to the papers. 

‘We would like you to immediately move forward with leaking this information to the UK press. Obviously must be done very carefully.

‘The line of thinking is…: Thailand is the world capital of pedophilia. This man has frequented Thailand since the 80s. While the guise of cave exploration is creative, there are amazing and extensive caving systems in many places throughout the world…. He eventually woman [sic] 30 years his minor whom he met while she was a teenager. He had been going to Thailand for decades before marrying her.

‘She wasn’t the first girl he met – and definitely not the first teenager he interacted with. Share the facts and as you said, that should be enough for a story,’ Birchall said in an email that is quoted in the filing. 

Howard then tried to get the press to print the claims, emailing them to journalists under the email address ‘bangkokjohn’, the lawsuit alleges, but he was unsuccessful.

As speculation gathered that Unsworth was going to file a lawsuit, a BuzzFeed reporter emailed Musk for a comment. 

Musk sent this email to his staff after the BuzzFeed article was released where he said he had no idea it would be published and calling himself a f*****g idiot' for sending it

Musk sent this email to his staff after the BuzzFeed article was released where he said he had no idea it would be published and calling himself a f*****g idiot’ for sending it 

In response, he said: ‘Off the record. I suggest that you call people you know in Thailand, find out what’s actualluy going on and stop defending child rapists, you f****** a**hole.

He’s an old single white guy from England who’s been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Ria for a child bride who was 12 years old at the time.

‘There’s only one reason people go to Pattaya Beach. 

‘It isn’t where you’d go for caves, but it is where you’d go for something else. Chiang Rai is renowned for child sex-trafficking….I f****** hope he sues me.’   

Unsworth filed his lawsuit on September 17. 

It has since emerged that Howard is a con man who claimed to have worked for MI5 and George Soros. 

In one of his emails to Birchall, he said he’d tried to have the story run in British and Australian news outlets by claiming he was working for a children’s charity. 

Unsworth said, in summarizing his case, Musk took matters into his own hands by sending emails to an adversarial reporter in response to a bona fide request for comment which stated, as a matter of fact, false accusations that Unswoth was a child rapist with a 12-year-old child bride.   

‘With a straight face, Musk unabashedly seeks judgement because he claims legal protection for accusations of pedophilia against British men who spent time in Thailand.’   

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk