The British cave diver who helped rescue 12 children in Thailand and who was hailed a hero by everybody in the world except Elon Musk – who instead decided to label him "pedo guy" and then later a "child rapist", has reportedly sued Musk for libel, assault and slander, as was noted in this headline that just crossed the wire:

ELON MUSK IS SUED BY THAI CAVE RESCUER VERNON UNSWORTH IN LAWSUIT ALLEGING LIBEL, ASSAULT, SLANDER -- COURT RECORDS: RTRS

Vernon Unsworth and his attorneys filed the suit in the US district court for the Central District of California, according to BuzzFeed. The Tesla CEO's tweets and emails to BuzzFeed were submitted as exhibits in the lawsuit. According to Bloomberg, Unsworth is seeking $76 million in damages.

The lawsuit provides a history of the rescue according to Unsworth. It paints him as a "highly respected caver" with four decades of experience, including a handful of rescues in the United Kingdom. And the suit also reportedly explains that Unsworth's first visit to Thailand was in 2011, before exploring the caves for the first time in May 2012.

The suit reportedly says he spent six years going over the cave system and that he was "the first foreign rescuer" to arrive on the scene after calls for help. It also claims he was one of the last to leave, which directly contradicts Musk’s statement that he was banned from the site.

It states that he has never visited the area of Pattaya Beach, a destination in Thailand known for sex tourism. His lawyer stated:

“Musk falsely states that Mr.Unsworth had visited Pattaya Beach or lived in Thailand for 30 to 40 years and falsely stated that he lived in Chiang Rai with a 12-year-old bride. While the Cave System at issue contains a shelf and air pocket nicknamed ‘Pattaya Beach,’ which is near where the stranded Boys were located, Mr. Unsworth has never visited Pattaya Beach in Thailand.”

Recently Musk had quadrupled down on his comments that Unsworth was indeed a pedophile based solely on the fact that Unsworth had not sued him yet. Now, it looks like that argument is off the table for Musk.

Not even 7 days after we pondered what part of Elon Musk's PR genius compelled him to triple down on his claim that Unsworth was a "pedo" than Musk was back at it again. He then reportedly quadrupled down on these claims, essentially going "all in" on his previous statements and labeling rescue diver Vern Unsworth a "child rapist" in an e-mail he sent to BuzzFeed news.

Musk said Unsworth had moved to Thailand in order to take a child bride "who was about 12 years old at the time". Musk wrote:

“I suggest that you call people you know in Thailand, find out what’s actually going on and stop defending child rapists, you fucking asshole,” Musk wrote in the first message. “He’s an old, single white guy from England who’s been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time.”

Musk then followed up by stating "I fucking hope he sues me".

Unsworth's longtime girlfriend of seven years, 40 year old Woranan Ratrawiphukkuh, stated that he spends part of the year in Thailand and part of the year in the UK. She "declined to comment on Musk’s allegations against Unsworth, and referred a reporter to his lawyers," according to the report.

When we last reported on Musk’s inability to stop talking about British cave diver Vern Unsworth, we noted that Unsworth was potentially preparing a libel suit against Musk for claims that he had made about the diver.

Below is the full text of the letter obtained by BuzzFeed that was sent to Musk on August 6. In it, it calls Musk's statements "false and defamatory" and points out that Musk stated, in three Tweets to 22 million followers, that Unsworth "engages in the sexual exploitation of Thai children" at the very same time "he was working to save the lives of twelve Thai children".

Back on August 29, we reported that Unsworth had retained legal counsel and was "preparing a civil complaint for libel". Unsworth reportedly sent Musk a letter in August letting him know that a lawsuit could be possible as a result of the statement that Musk made to his over 22 million Twitter followers.

Related Articles:

Elon Musk appears to have doubled down on his claim that a British explorer who was instrumental in freeing a group of Thai boys trapped in a cave is a “pedo”