President Donald Trump has been in office less than a month, and Elon Musk’s vast business empire is already benefiting — or is now in a decidedly better position to benefit.

特朗普总统上任不到一个月，埃隆·马斯克庞大的商业帝国已经开始受益——或者说，目前处于一个明显更有利的位置。

Trump and Musk, the world’s richest man, who has been given enormous power by the president, have been dismantling federal agencies across the government. Trump has fired top officials and pushed out career employees. Many of them were leading investigations, enforcement matters or lawsuits pending against Musk’s companies.

世界首富马斯克被总统赋予了巨大的权力，他和特朗普正在拆解政府多个联邦机构。特朗普解雇了多名高层官员，并赶走一些职业政府雇员。他们中的许多人原本正在领导针对马斯克公司的调查、执法事宜或未决诉讼。

Musk has also reaped the benefit of resignations by Biden-era regulators that flipped control of major regulatory agencies, leaving more sympathetic Republican appointees overseeing those lawsuits.

马斯克还从拜登时期监管机构人员的辞职中获益，这些辞职导致了主要监管机构的控制权发生变化，使得更多倾向于支持他的共和党任命人员接管了这些诉讼的监督工作。

At least 11 federal agencies that have been affected by those moves have more than 32 continuing investigations, pending complaints or enforcement actions into Musk’s six companies, according to a review by The New York Times.

根据《纽约时报》的审阅，至少有11个受到这些举措影响的联邦机构，对马斯克的六家公司进行了超过32项持续调查，未决诉讼或执法行动。

The inquiries include the Federal Aviation Administration’s fines of Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, for safety violations and a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit pressing Musk to pay the federal government perhaps as much as $150 million, accusing him of having violated federal securities law.

这些调查包括美国联邦航空管理局(FAA)对马斯克的火箭公司太空探索技术(SpaceX)的安全违规罚款，以及美国证券交易委员会(SEC)指控他违反联邦证券法，要求马斯克向联邦政府支付可能高达1.5亿美元的费用。

On its own, the National Labor Relations Board, an independent watchdog agency for workers’ rights, has 24 investigations into Musk’s companies.

工人权利监督的独立机构国家劳工关系委员会(NLRB)单独对马斯克的公司进行了24项调查。

Since January, Trump has fired three officials at that agency, including a board member, effectively stalling the board’s ability to rule on cases. Until Trump nominates new members, cases that need a ruling by the board cannot move forward.

自1月以来，特朗普已经解雇了该机构的三名官员，包括一名董事会成员，基本上阻止了该委员会对案件进行裁决的能力。在特朗普提名新成员之前，需要该委员会裁决的案件都无法向前推进。

Over at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a public database shows hundreds of complaints about the electric car company Tesla, mostly concerning debt collection or loan problems. The agency has now effectively been put out of commission, at least temporarily, by the Trump administration, which has ordered its staff to put a hold on all investigations. The bureau also is an agency that would have regulated Musk’s new efforts to bring a payments service to the social media platform X, which he owns.

在消费者金融保护局，一个公共数据库显示了数以百计针对电动汽车公司特斯拉的投诉，大多涉及债务催收或贷款问题。该机构现在实际上已被特朗普政府暂时关停，特朗普政府已命令其工作人员暂停所有调查。该局本应监管马斯克将支付服务引入他旗下社交媒体平台X的新计划。

Musk has numerous contracts that are overseen by multiple government agencies — including space, media, financial securities and highway safety. He and his team now also have an extraordinary position created by Trump that allows him to review the spending and staffing of every department in the executive branch through his cost-cutting initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency.

马斯克拥有许多由多个政府机构监管的合同，包括太空、媒体、金融证券和公路安全等领域。他和他的团队现在还拥有特朗普为其创造的一个特殊职位，使他能够通过名为政府效率部的削减开支计划，审查行政部门每个分部的开支和人员配置。

None of the investigations or lawsuits involving Musk and his companies, at least so far, have formally been dropped since the start of the new administration. The Times also found no evidence that Musk directly ordered that an investigation into one of his companies be shut down or stalled.

自新一届政府上任以来，至少到目前为止，涉及马斯克及其公司的任何调查或诉讼都没有正式被撤销。《纽约时报》也没有找到任何证据，表明马斯克直接下令停止或拖延对其任何一家公司的调查。

But the upheaval at federal agencies represents one of the first tests of a wide range of conflicts of interest Musk has brought to the White House, including 100 contracts with 17 federal agencies.

但联邦机构的动荡代表着马斯克带到白宫的各种利益冲突的首批考验之一，其中包括与17个联邦机构签订的100个合同。

Musk controls six companies, including Tesla, which is publicly traded. He is the founder of SpaceX; the artificial intelligence startup xAI; the Boring Co., a tunneling venture; and Neuralink, which is developing brain computer implants. All of those are private. He also owns X, formerly Twitter.

马斯克控制着六家公司，其中包括公开上市的特斯拉。他是以下公司的创始人：SpaceX、人工智能初创公司xAI、隧道建设公司The Boring Co、以及开发脑机接口的Neuralink。这些公司都是私营的。他还拥有X，其前身是Twitter。

Musk’s companies secured $13 billion in contracts over the past five years, making SpaceX, which collects most of that money, one of the biggest government contractors.

在过去五年中，马斯克的公司获得了130亿美元的合同，SpaceX收取了其中大部分资金，这使得它成为最大的政府承包商之一。

Musk has had a long and contentious relationship with regulators of his companies. He has called the SEC “bastards,” and SpaceX has sued the NLRB, arguing it’s “unconstitutional” after the agency had alleged that his company had mistreated and illegally fired some workers.

马斯克与监管其公司的机构有着长期且充满争议的关系。他曾称美国证券交易委员会为“混蛋”，SpaceX则起诉了美国国家劳动关系委员会，在该机构指控其公司不当对待和非法解雇部分员工后，称其行为“违宪”。

Democrats in Congress, and outside lawyers who specialize in government contracting and ethics, have questioned Musk’s position, saying that they cannot identify a time in American history when a corporate executive with so many regulatory matters, as well as billions of dollars in federal contracts, has had such power over government operations.

国会中的民主党人以及专门研究政府合同和伦理规范的外部律师质疑了马斯克的立场，他们表示，在美国历史上，从未有过马斯克这样一位面临如此多监管问题，以及数十亿美元联邦合同的公司高管，对政府运营拥有如此大的权力。

Trump recently said Musk is “not gaining anything” in the role. White House officials stated that it is up to Musk to police his own actions.

特朗普最近表示，马斯克在这个职位上“并没有获得任何好处”。白宫官员表示，是否监管自己的行为是马斯克自己的责任。

Musk, his companies and a spokesperson for the Department of Government Efficiency did not respond to requests for comment. However, Musk has defended his involvement in Pentagon contracting and said he was confident he did not have conflicts because employees at SpaceX submit the bids, not him personally.

马斯克、他的公司以及政府效率部的发言人没有回应置评请求。然而，马斯克为自己参与五角大楼合同做出了辩护，并表示他相信自己没有利益冲突，因为是SpaceX的员工提交投标，而不是他本人。

SpaceX, Tesla and Safety

SpaceX、特斯拉和安全问题

SpaceX’s launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket in July 2023 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was historic: The company was putting a 10-ton satellite, the largest ever sent into what is called geostationary orbit, 22,000 miles above Earth.

2023年7月，SpaceX在佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心发射了其猎鹰重型火箭，这次发射具有历史意义：该公司将一颗10吨重的卫星送入所谓的静止轨道，这是有史以来最大的一颗卫星，距离地球35400公里。

Meanwhile, a conflict between SpaceX and the FAA had been playing out. The agency had told SpaceX as the countdown to the launch was underway that a new facility SpaceX had built to fill the rocket engines with fuel had not yet passed all the required safety checks.

与此同时，SpaceX与联邦航空管理局之间的冲突也在持续。该机构在发射倒计时开始时告知SpaceX，该公司为火箭发动机加注燃料而建造的新设施尚未通过所有必要的安全检查。

SpaceX went ahead anyway. The FAA proposed a $283,009 fine.

尽管如此，SpaceX还是继续进行了发射。航空管理局提出了一笔283009美元的罚款。

That move, along with a second proposed fine from the FAA, infuriated Musk. Musk later demanded the resignation of the agency’s head, Michael Whitaker.

这一举动以及航空管理局提出的第二笔罚款激怒了马斯克。马斯克随后要求该机构负责人迈克尔·惠特克辞职。

Musk got his wish when Whitaker, a lawyer with decades of experience in the aviation industry, resigned on the last day of the Biden administration.

马斯克如愿以偿，惠特克——一位拥有几十年航空业经验的律师——在拜登政府最后一天辞职。

With Trump back in the White House, Musk’s allies saw an opening to revoke the proposed FAA fines and force the agency, which is charged under law with ensuring that rocket launches do not endanger the public or cause undue harm to the environment, to speed up its SpaceX approvals.

随着特朗普重返白宫，马斯克的盟友看到了撤销航空管理局拟议罚款的机会，并迫使该机构加快对SpaceX批准。根据法律，该机构负责确保火箭发射不会危及公众，或对环境造成不应有的损害。

Shifts at the SEC

证券交易委员会的转变

Changes in leadership at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Musk in January shortly before Trump returned to the White House, will almost certainly result in an outcome more beneficial for Musk.

在特朗普重返白宫前不久，证券交易委员会在1月起诉了马斯克，该机构领导层的变化几乎肯定会导致对马斯克更有利的结果。

The SEC determined that Musk underpaid by at least $150 million for the Twitter stock he purchased in 2022 before moving to formally take over the company because he illegally failed to file a disclosure on time that he had already purchased 5% of the company. If that notice had been filed, the stock would almost certainly have risen in value and cost him more to acquire, the agency said.

证券交易委员会认定，马斯克在正式接管Twitter公司之前，于2022年购买该公司股票时，至少少支付了1.5亿美元，因为他非法未按时提交披露文件，未说明他已购买了该公司5%的股份。该机构称，如果当时提交了该通知，股票价值几乎肯定会上涨，导致他收购成本增加。

For months, Musk repeatedly rebuffed efforts by agency investigators to interview him, agreeing only a few months before the end of the Biden administration to answer questions in person, delaying the investigation.

几个月来，马斯克一再拒绝监管机构调查人员的面谈请求，直到拜登政府任期即将结束前几个月，他才同意亲自回答问题，从而延迟了调查。

The agency is overseen by a five-member commission, which must sign off on litigation and settlements. The two Republicans objected to the planned lawsuit, but they were in the minority at the time.

该机构由一个五人委员会监管，必须由他们批准诉讼以及和解方案。其中的两位共和党成员反对计划中的诉讼，但当时他们是少数派。

Now, with the departures of two Democrats, Republicans have a majority, and two lawyers who have participated in the deliberations said they expect that the matter will be settled with a modest fine.

现在，随着两名民主党人成员的离开，共和党人占据了多数席位，两名参与审议的律师表示，他们预计此事将通过轻度罚款得到解决。

Workers’ Rights

工人权利

At two federal watchdog agencies for workers, the actions by Trump have a clear effect on Musk’s business empire as well as countless other companies that have matters before them.

在两家联邦工人监管机构，特朗普的行动对马斯克的商业帝国以及无数其他面临问题的公司产生了明显的影响。

The firings at the agencies, the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, mean neither has a quorum on its board to decide cases.

国家劳工关系委员会和平等就业机会委员会这两个机构的人员解雇意味着两个机构都没有足够的法定人数来裁决案件。

One of the many NLRB investigations involves Musk’s companies’ sweeping job cuts in 2022 at X.

国家劳工关系委员会的众多调查之一涉及马斯克公司在X的2022年大规模裁员。

Twitter employees at the time banded together to talk about what was going on at work, on Slack software and on the messaging app Signal. Twitter tried to get ahold of the communications and even surveilled some employees.

当时，Twitter员工聚集在Slack软件和即时通讯应用Signal上讨论正在发生的事情。Twitter试图获得这些通信内容，甚至监视一些员工。

The matter is being reviewed by NLRB staff, but the board’s current construct could trouble its path forward or prevent a decision against X from being enforced.

国家劳工关系委员会的工作人员正在审查此事，但该委员会目前的结构可能会阻碍其推进，或阻止对X的裁决得到执行。

In 2023, the EEOC separately sued Tesla, alleging widespread and “ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees” and retaliation.

2023年，平等就业机会委员会单独起诉特斯拉，指控其“对黑人员工进行广泛和持续的种族骚扰”，以及报复行为。

While the case is moving forward, Trump is expected to appoint new commissioners, representing a shift in the agency’s approach to workers’ rights and a potential dismissal of the matter.

随着案件的进展，预计特朗普将任命新的专员，这代表着该机构对工人权利的处理方式发生转变，并可能会驳回此案。

A spokesperson for the EEOC said the agency would not comment on current litigation.

平等就业机会委员会的发言人称，该机构不会对正在进行的诉讼发表评论。

Fired Watchdogs

被解雇的“看门狗”

In his first week, Trump fired at least 17 inspectors general, who are charged with investigating waste and corruption within their own agencies.

在上任的第一周，特朗普解雇了至少17名监察长，他们负责调查自己机构内的浪费和腐败。

The mass firing — a move that may have violated federal law — may benefit Musk.

大规模解雇——这一举动可能违反了联邦法律——可能对马斯克有利。

Among the dismissed inspectors general was Phyllis Fong at the Agriculture Department.

农业部的菲利斯·方是被解职的监察长之一。

Her agency had opened an investigation in 2022 into Musk’s brain implant startup, Neuralink, and the inquiry was in progress as of late last year.

她的机构在2022年对马斯克的脑机接口初创公司Neuralink展开了调查，截至去年年底，调查仍在进行中。

In December, Musk posted a letter from his lawyer on X that claimed that the SEC had also reopened an investigation into Neuralink.

去年12月，马斯克在X上贴出了一封他的律师的信，声称证券交易委员会也重新开始了对Neuralink的调查。

Both investigations arose after a nonprofit, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, discovered through a public records lawsuit in 2021 that Neuralink had allegedly mistreated dozens of test monkeys, Ryan Merkley, the nonprofit’s director of research advocacy, said in an interview.

2021年，非营利组织负责任医学医师委员会通过公共记录诉讼，发现Neuralink涉嫌虐待数十只试验猴子，这两项调查都是在这一发现之后开始的，该组织研究倡导主任瑞安·默克雷在接受采访时说。

Musk has denied the mistreatment of monkeys at Neuralink, and the company was not cited after a USDA review.

马斯克否认Neuralink虐待猴子，在美国农业部进行审查后，该公司没有被传唤。

The USDA inspector general’s office didn’t return requests for comment.

美国农业部监察长办公室没有回复置评请求。