By Jennifer Smith, Chief Reporter For Dailymail.Com
Published: 14:27 EDT, 25 July 2022 | Updated: 01:57 EDT, 26 July 2022
Elon Musk taunted The Wall Street Journal's Investigations Editor on Monday morning, tweeting a photo of himself partying with Sergey Brin yesterday in an effort to disprove the newspaper's bombshell claim that Musk slept with Brin's wife Nicole and was the catalyst for their divorce.
Replying to Investigations Editor Michael Siconolfi, Musk shared the photo and long with pants and fire emojis in a playful reference to the childish saying 'liar, liar, pants on fire'.
The Wall Street Journal is standing by its story, which claims Musk and Shanahan were romantically involved at Art Basel in December last year, and that it not only chilled Musk's friendship with Sergey but served as the catalyst for their divorce.
'We are confident in our sourcing, and we stand by our reporting,' a spokesman for the newspaper told DailyMail.com.
Musk's photo shows him standing with Sergey and two other women. It's unclear where exactly it was taken - Musk was last seen in Mykonos last week - but his jet flew from Austin, where he lives, to San Jose on Saturday. It flew back to Austin last night, landing at 11pm last night.
Elon Musk tweeted this photo in response to a Wall Street Journal reporter on Monday after the paper claimed he and Sergey Brin were not on speaking terms because of Musk's apparent affair with Brin's wife
Musk was replying to Michael Siconolfi's tweet praising the paper's reporters for the exclusive story that Musk now denies
Earlier, he had denied the entire Journal report, which claimed that he slept with Shanahan at Art Basel in Miami in December last year.
Google founder Sergey filed for divorce in January, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split.
The pair share a four-year-old daughter.
Neither Sergey nor his estranged wife Nicole have commented on the Journal's claims at all.
Musk has however been on a Twitter frenzy, accusing the newspaper - which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - of launching 'hit pieces' against him all year.
'WSJ should be running stories that actually matter to their readers and have solid factual basis, not third-party random hearsay.
The character assassination attacks have reached a new level this year, but the articles are all nothing-burgers. I work crazy hours, so there just isn’t much time for shenanigans.
Musk with Brin (far right) in the early 2000s. The Wall Street Journal claimed the 'affair' brought an abrupt end to the Brins' marriage
Musk's Twitter defense: The 51-year-old repeatedly denied the allegations in the Wall Street Journal report on Monday
Musk denied The Wall Street Journal's report, calling it 'more shortseller fud'. The billionaire claimed the newspaper had been running 'hit pieces' and 'character assassinations' on him all year
Sergey Brin and Nicole Shanahan are shown on Lake Como in July last year. She said in January when their divorce was announced: 'I hope for Sergey and I to move forward with dignity, honesty and harmony for the sake of our child. And we are both working towards that.
Shanahan works for the firm Bia-Echo, an investment firm whose interests include 'reproductive longevity and equality'
'None of the key people involved in these alleged wrongdoings were even interviewed!'
Nicole in the June 2021 issue of Silicon Valley magazine
'The real problem here is that Michael Siconolfi has zero journalistic integrity.'
Siconolfi has not responded to Musk's denigration of his journalism.
He did not write the piece about the alleged affair.
The article also claimed that Sergey was selling off all of his interests in Musk's companies.
The pair have been friends for years, with Sergey giving Musk $500,000 in 2008 to help him fund Tesla at the peak of the Global Financial Crash.
He also lent Musk the Google Party Plane for the Tesla CEO's wedding to actress Talulah Riley in 2010.
Sergey and Nicole were married for four years before he filed for divorce in January. He is the eighth richest man in the world with a net worth of $95billion.
Brin is said to own multiple interests in Musk's many businesses, all of which he has ordered his aides to sell.
When the divorce proceedings were launched in January, Nicole told Puck: 'I hope for Sergey and I to move forward with dignity, honesty and harmony for the sake of our child.
'And we are both working towards that.'
She is a Stanford-educated lawyer who works at the firm Bio-Echa, an investment firm that pours money into projects like bolstering 'reproductive longevity'.
Brin is shown in March this year, three months after filing for divorce, looking cozy on the red carpet with an unidentified blonde at the Vanity Fair Oscars party
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