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A watchdog group has filed a conflict-of-interest complaint over concerns that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has “blatantly” pressured the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use Starlink.
The Washington, DC-based Campaign Legal Center also filed a lawsuit to stop Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from making “unlawful” cuts to the federal budget.
On Thursday, the group sent the 12-page conflict-of-interest complaint about Musk to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Transportation, which oversees the FAA. The center argues that the billionaire is using his position in the Trump administration to push the FAA into buying Starlink dishes, enriching SpaceX and Musk in the process.
“If Musk participated in or directed discussions with FAA employees concerning business transactions with Starlink, he may have violated the criminal conflict of interest law and corrupted FAA’s business relationship with Starlink,” the group says.
Specifically, the Campaign Legal Center points out Musk may be violating US law 18 USC 208. The statute "prohibits an executive branch employee from participating personally and substantially in a particular Government matter that will affect his own financial interests, as well as the financial interests of certain individuals with whom he has ties outside the Government,” according to the US Office of Government Ethics.
The White House says Musk is a "special government employee," meaning he should fall under 18 USC 208, according to the Campaign Legal Center. The group also points to media reports and Musk’s own tweets that suggest the SpaceX CEO is directly involved in pushing the FAA to use Starlink over Verizon, which has a $2.4 billion contract with the FAA.
(Credit: WW News/Getty Images)The watchdog group is urging the OIG to investigate whether the FAA’s dealings with Starlink violate 18 USC 208, which is designed to punish offenders with a fine or one year of jail time.
“Accordingly, the evidence suggesting that Musk has blatantly and improperly influenced the FAA’s decision to work with Starlink warrants a thorough OIG fact-finding,” the group says.
The Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Transportation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The letter is addressed to acting DOT Inspector General Mitch Behm; the previous IG was among those ousted by President Trump in January.
Last week, SpaceX denied it tried to take over Verizon’s $2.4 billion contract to upgrade the FAA’s communications systems. "Starlink is a possible partial fix to an aging system. There is no effort or intent for Starlink to ‘take over’ any existing contract – that’s just FUD [fear, uncertainty, doubt],” the company tweeted.
The FAA has also said it’s merely testing Starlink dishes for remote sites like Alaska. SpaceX adds that it’s been “providing Starlink kits and service free of charge for an initial testing period.”
On X, Musk originally argued that Verizon's technology was "breaking down very rapidly." He was later forced to issue a correction after he realized that the FAA's current communications system was developed by a different company, L3Harris.
"Beyond this initial testing deployment, SpaceX is working with L3Harris and the FAA to identify instances where Starlink could serve as a long-term infrastructure upgrade for aviation safety," SpaceX said in a follow-up statement.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has also pushed back on the Starlink use, calling it a partial solution. "Again, we want to make sure we have fiber-connected systems in place," he told Fox News. Nevertheless, he's been urging Verizon to accelerate its plan to upgrade the FAA's communications. "I can't wait 10 years... The American people can't wait 10 years or 12 years to lay fiber," he said during a press conference this week.