I just saw something quite interesting. Elon Musk has become one of the most powerful figures in the U.S. government in just two weeks, but he doesn’t have to publicly disclose his investments and conflicts of interest like other cabinet members do. How is that possible? It’s because he was appointed as a Special Government Employee (SGE), a status that allows him to keep confidential the financial information that ordinary senior officials are required to disclose.

I looked into what he has been doing over these two weeks—sending emails to over 2 million federal employees asking them to retire early, convincing Trump to shut down the $40 billion U.S. Agency for International Development, and his team even gained access to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s payment system. But at first, it wasn’t clear what legal authority he had to do these things. The White House later confirmed his SGE status, which means he doesn’t have to disclose his personal financial situation like other officials.

Under U.S. law, government officials are required to disclose their personal financial information to avoid conflicts of interest. But SGEs only need to fill out a confidential OGE Form 450, which is only accessible to the White House and the Office of Government Ethics, and the public can’t see it at all. Richard Painter, a former White House ethics advisor under the Bush administration, directly pointed out that Musk isn’t just an ordinary SGE—normal SGEs have limited authority and are mainly advisory, but Musk’s influence extends throughout the entire federal bureaucracy. He’s using the SGE title to avoid financial disclosure.

So, how much is Elon Musk’s net worth? According to data from early last year, his wealth was estimated at around $420 billion, mostly from his $210 billion stake in Tesla, along with $191 billion in shares of private companies like SpaceX, X, and xAI. These companies are connected to the U.S. government—SpaceX has received billions of dollars in federal contracts and collaborates with the U.S. Agency for International Development, which he’s trying to shut down; Tesla heavily depends on the Chinese market, which is their largest sales and manufacturing base.

In addition, Musk holds $9.5 billion in cash and liquid investments, and $3.5 billion in bank debt, secured by 238.4 million shares of Tesla. How many undisclosed conflicts of interest are hidden behind these numbers? Who knows.

By regulation, all SGEs are required to submit financial disclosures so the government can identify potential conflicts of interest. But there’s no evidence that Musk has ever submitted such a document. When asked, the White House offered a vague statement saying Musk “selflessly serves the Trump administration.” The Office of Government Ethics was more direct, refusing to comment.

Don Fox, who served as Acting Director of Ethics during the Obama administration, expressed skepticism—he said that with such enormous wealth, Musk couldn’t possibly know all the potential conflicts of interest. He also criticized the current administration for not being interested in investigating this guy.

Looking at recent market movements, DOGE is around $0.09 (up 0.91% in 24 hours), SOLV has dropped to $0.00 (down 15.39%), and ATOM is at $1.71 (down 0.87%). The market’s reaction to these policy changes is still ongoing.