Reid Hoffman said he's had to hire security since Elon Musk fuelled a baseless conspiracy theory about him

• Reid Hoffman said he'd faced threats after Elon Musk fueled a baseless conspiracy theory about him.
• Musk has amplified claims that the LinkedIn cofounder was a client of Jeffrey Epstein.
• Hoffman said he regretted his past association with Epstein and has hired security after threats.

Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, said he has received threats of violence — and had to hire security — since Elon Musk fueled a baseless conspiracy theory about him.

The Tesla CEO, who worked with Hoffman at PayPal, replied earlier this month to an X post in which a user implied Hoffman had visited convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's private island.

Musk replied with the "100" emoji to a post saying: "This guy is TERRIFIED about Trump releasing the Epstein Client list after all his visits to Epstein Island."

Musk also made the claim during an October interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, in which he said Hoffman was among the "billionaires behind Kamala" who were "terrified" by the prospect of Epstein's client list being made public.

Speaking to British newspaper The Sunday Times, Hoffman expressed that Musk has developed a "conviction with no evidence" that he had a close relationship with Epstein.

"Elon's defamation makes me angry and sad. Angry because it is an ugly assault. Sad because it comes from someone whose entrepreneurial achievements I continue to admire," he said.

He added that he didn't want to "dignify" the threats he had received by sharing any details but said, "I've hired security staff as a result."

After Epstein's suicide in jail in 2019, Hoffman apologized for inviting him to a dinner party in 2015 with other tech tycoons — including Musk, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel — while also fundraising for MIT's renowned Media Lab.

Hoffman said he was told Epstein's involvement in raising donations had been vetted and approved by MIT. But he later wrote in an email to Axios that he regretted not conducting his own research into Epstein, who died while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

"My last interaction with Epstein was in 2015," he said in the email. "Still, by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful."

Hoffman told The Sunday Times that he "went to no Epstein parties" and that he "didn't even know who he was."

Hoffman is a major Democratic donor who took to X to voice his support for Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election. "My message for American voters and Russian bots: don't vote for the guy too busy selling you a scamcoin," he wrote in a post on X on Election Day. President-elect Donald Trump launched his own crypto coin, the World Liberty Financial token, in October.

Musk has become a close ally of the president-elect, having been tasked with leading a new Department of Government Efficiency alongside pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.