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A report says that Elon Musk once gave billions of dollars to charity through a former professional poker player who was born in Russia and admitted to being a pothead. This person won a total of $18 million gambling, despite the fact that he was a pothead.
Igor Kurganov, who is 34 years old, seems to have the ear of the richest person in the world, which has caused trouble in the mogul's inner circle, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Since moving from London to Texas last year, Kurganov has reportedly whispered into Musk’s ear about undertaking a charity strategy known as “effective altruism.”
The two men got close because they both liked the Burning Man festival, and Kurganov's longtime partner, fellow professional poker player Liv Boeree, was known to be friends with Grimes, the Canadian pop star who is the mother of two of Musk's children.
Jared Birchall, Musk's 48-year-old wealth manager and "fixer" who handles many of his personal and business affairs, is said to be annoyed by Musk's trust in Kurganov.
Birchall confronted Musk and objected to Kurganov’s attempts to gain control of efforts to steer vast amounts of his $219 billion personal fortune toward philanthropic endeavors, according to the Journal.
The Journal said that Musk has put enough trust in Kurganov, who doesn't know much about finance, that he has given him the power to hire and fire bodyguards for the Tesla CEO.
According to reports, Musk and Kurganov became so close that the tech mogul let him stay at his house during the pandemic.
When Musk told Birchall that he wanted Kurganov to be in charge of charitable giving, Birchall reportedly told Musk, "Elon, you can't." Birchall is said to have played a big role in advising Musk during his talks to buy Twitter.
A clash of personalities makes things worse between Birchall and Kurganov. Birchall is a very religious Mormon, but Kurganov used to play poker professionally and said he was kicked out of college for smoking too much pot.
The Journal said that Musk worked out a deal with Birchall and Kurganov in which the former poker player would be responsible for $5.7 billion in Tesla shares that were supposed to go to charities.
Birchall would be in charge of the rest of Musk's $219 billion fortune.
But things changed in August of last year when Birchall found out that the FBI was looking into Kurganov, who had been given a job with the Musk Foundation.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the FBI started a preliminary investigation to find out if Kurganov's attempts to get close to Musk were part of an attempt by a foreign foe to get inside a top American company.
The Journal says that when Birchall told Musk about the question, Musk agreed with his fixer that it was time to let Kurganov go.
The Journal said that Kurganov never got the chance to give any of Musk's $5.7 billion to charity.
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