Josh Raffaelli, a seasoned Silicon Valley investor with a history of supporting various companies linked to Elon Musk, is taking legal action against his former employer, the trillion-dollar Brookfield Asset Management, as reported by The New York Times.
Raffaelli’s lawsuit focuses on how Brookfield managed losses in pandemic-affected real estate and alleges that he was let go after submitting a whistleblower complaint to the SEC. Among the serious claims are accusations of fraud and bribery, claims that Brookfield has firmly denied, asserting to The Times that they did nothing wrong.
In February, Brookfield discreetly closed the venture capital division that Raffaelli was heading, consolidating some assets into another unit, according to a report from Bloomberg. One of Raffaelli’s key grievances is that Brookfield failed to purchase as much stock in Musk-affiliated companies as he had been authorized to.
The lawsuit states that Raffaelli had arranged to invest in Musk’s ventures, including SpaceX, xAI, and the Boring Company. Moreover, his Brookfield fund played a significant role in financing Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, as highlighted by Bloomberg.
This lawsuit marks a prominent chapter for Raffaelli, who previously served as a partner at the VC firm once known as Draper Fisher Jurvetson (now a blend of various funds). During his time at DFJ, Brookfield was instrumental in facilitating investments in several of Musk’s enterprises, including SolarCity (which Tesla acquired), SpaceX, and Tesla itself.
