Elon Musk has agreed to help fund the mounting legal bills of Tommy Robinson, according to claims made by supporters of the jailed far-right leader.
The US tech billionaire has been a vocal supporter of the extremist leader, and any financial backing will pose a further problem for Keir Starmer over Musk’s attempts to destabilise UK politics.
Musk has not revealed any donations himself, but a message sent out on Robinson’s X and Telegram accounts stated: “We are grateful to Elon Musk and his team at X for agreeing to provide support to Tommy Robinson for two specific legal cases” .
The statement from Robinson’s team says the assistance from the world’s richest man was “unexpected”.
“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Elon and his team for their unexpected and generous assistance with these cases. Tommy is immensely grateful for their support, which came as a complete surprise,” it reads.

Musk’s financial support for Robinson – if proven true – will exacerbate concerns about the tech tycoon’s willingness to meddle in British politics after he publicly supported calls for a public inquiry into the grooming gang scandal. It also recently emerged he was considering a donation to Reform UK.
The statement by Robinson’s team said the first of the legal cases relates to the far-right leader’s treatment in prison, “including violations of his human rights and his classification as a category C inmate”. It adds “despite being a civil prison he is placed in isolation under this classification”. It has been reported Robinson has been put in isolation for his own protection.
The second legal case relates to the charges Robinson faces under the Terrorism Act. In October he was charged after his refusal to grant police access to his phone which Robinson’s team claimed contained “privileged information”.
Robinson’s team stated: “It is important to clarify that Elon and his team are only involved in these two cases.”
The i Paper has not been able to verify that Musk has donated, and his team has been approached for comment.
Disclosures of Musk’s alleged financial support for Robinson comes as he is facing criticism after he was accused of giving a Nazi salute at President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. The billionaire owner of X took to his social media platform to downplay the incident, writing: “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired”.
Musk has continued to attract headlines for repeatedly weighing-in on UK matters, including criticism of the Prime Minister and MPs and repeatedly calling for Robinson to be freed from prison after he was jailed for contempt of court last year.
The account says that thanks to Musk’s support a crowdfunding campaign which aimed to raise £125,000 to pay for Robinson’s legal fees had stopped. It is not clear how much Musk has allegedly contributed but by the end of November the funding campaign had raised just over £100,000.

A second crowdfunding page seeking funds to support Robinson’s children posted a statement regarding the legal donations page. It read: “In January, Elon Musk announced he will cover Tommy Robinson’s legal bills going forward, so we are putting our crowdfunding efforts on hold. Thanks to everyone who contributed!”
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, had previously been banned from X but was reinstated by Musk in November 2023.
He was jailed in October for 18 months after admitting contempt of court by repeating false claims against a Syrian refugee.
Robinson admitted 10 breaches of a High Court order made in 2021.
Musk has made a number of high-profile comments about the UK and its Government since Labour were elected this summer, including calls for a new election and demanding that Keir Starmer should be imprisoned.

In January, Starmer condemned “lies and misinformation” from Musk and similar online agitators.
Musk and Robinson’s team have been approached for comment.