Elon Musk’s Former VC Sues Brookfield for Alleged Retaliation and Fraud
Josh Raffaelli, a veteran venture capitalist known for backing Elon Musk’s major ventures, has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, Brookfield Asset Management, accusing the firm of wrongful termination, fraud, and retaliation.
According to a report by The New York Times, Raffaelli claims Brookfield fired him shortly after he filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the company’s handling of pandemic-era real estate losses.
Brookfield, a trillion-dollar asset management giant, has denied all wrongdoing, stating to the Times that the allegations are baseless.
Tensions Over Musk Investments
The lawsuit also reveals tensions over Brookfield’s commitment to Raffaelli’s planned investments in Elon Musk’s companies, including SpaceX, xAI, and The Boring Company. Raffaelli alleges that Brookfield failed to follow through on stock purchases he had negotiated access to.
Bloomberg had earlier reported that Brookfield quietly shut down Raffaelli’s venture capital division in February 2025, absorbing its assets into another unit. The firm had also been a key backer in Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, another venture tied to Raffaelli.
A High-Stakes Legal Battle
Before joining Brookfield, Raffaelli was a partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), where he helped steer early investments into Musk’s companies like SolarCity, SpaceX, and Tesla.
This legal clash marks a rare public fallout involving high-level venture capital and one of the most influential tech investors in Silicon Valley. If the allegations are upheld, it could have significant implications for investment governance, whistleblower protections, and large institutional backing in tech unicorns.
