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On Sunday, Elon Musk was spotted <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/18/lionel-messi-argentina-france-world-cup-final/" target=_blank>watching the World Cup final</a> live at  Lusail Stadium in Qatar, surrounded by a group of high-profile businesspeople and politicians.

Photos taken of Musk during the match show him drinking from a wine glass, standing amid a group that included former president Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/07/kushner-democrats-congressional-probe-bailout/" target=_blank>son-in-law Jared Kushner</a>, Qatari leaders and an Indian steelmaking magnate.

“At the World Cup right now,” Musk posted on <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604490162976698368" target=_blank>Twitter,</a> which he owns, shortly before kickoff, along with a video taken inside the stadium. The post ignited a stream of comments from users, quick to point out that Musk could have violated his own recently announced anti-doxing policy.

While he was watching the game, a fresh round of controversy was gripping the social media site he purchased in October. Near the end of the game, Twitter’s policy team <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/18/twitter-policy-links-to-social-sites/" target=_blank>banned users from promoting</a> other social media networks — prompting even some of Musk’s closest supporters to question the policy. After the game, Musk tweeted that the policy would be tweaked, and then apologized for it. Minutes later, at 2:20 a.m.  in Qatar, Musk <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/19/musk-twitter-ceo-poll/" target=_blank>tweeted a poll asking Twitter</a> if he should step down as CEO.

It’s not clear if Musk’s interactions with the Qataris or any of the other wealthy businesspeople at the game affected his decision to post a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/19/elon-musk-twitter-key-moments/" target=_blank>referendum on his leadership</a>, or if he asked them for more investment. But his presence at the game gives a glimpse into the world Musk travels in, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/17/elon-musk-jet-tracker-doxxing/" target=_blank>jetting across the globe</a> in a private jet to spend time with the ruling princes of Gulf petro-states and take selfies with social media celebrities like Salt Bae. Musk did not respond for to a request for comment.

Niviere David/ABACAPRESS.COM/Shutterstock

Mansoor Bin Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO of Qatar Investment Authority, was pictured sitting next to Musk and former president Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner during the final. A spokesperson for the sovereign wealth fund confirmed that  Al-Mahmoud was photographed at the match.

The QIA, which is responsible for investing billions of dollars of the country’s wealth from natural gas into companies and infrastructure projects, has ties to both men. The fund was a major investor in Musk’s takeover of Twitter, giving him $375 million to help take the company private, according to <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418091/000110465922056055/tm2214608-1_sc13da.htm">SEC filings</a>.

“We believe in Elon’s leadership, and that’s why we have committed on this transaction,” Al-Mahmoud said at the <a href="https://twitter.com/BloombergLive/status/1539240227738464258">Qatar Economic Forum</a> in June.

“The vote of confidence is much appreciated,” Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1539291794436915200">tweeted</a> in response to a video of Al-Mahmoud’s remarks.

A spokesperson for QIA declined to comment on any possible discussions between the fund’s CEO and Musk.

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Kushner was spotted entering the stadium with former Austrian chancellor and leader of the conservative Austrian People’s Party, <a href="https://www.krone.at/2884995">Sebastian Kurz</a>, according to media reports. After stepping down amid a corruption scandal in October 2021, Kurz took a job with <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e70f3a82-a9b9-4376-af45-8679a4d46c52">Thiel Capital</a>, run by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/19/peter-thiel-facebook-new-right/" target=_blank>right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel</a>, who worked with Musk during the early days of PayPal. Last month, Kurz joined an advisory council affiliated with the Kushner-founded Abraham Accords Peace Institute.

Following the purchase of Twitter, Musk invited Kushner’s father-in-law back to the social media platform after Trump was banned for inciting violence on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/january-6-capitol-riot/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Jan. 6</a>. Trump has said he won’t return to Twitter and is focusing on the competing social media platform of which he’s the majority owner — Truth Social.

Kushner has long-standing and controversial ties to Qatar, dating to his father-in-law’s campaign and presidency. Starting in 2015, Kushner’s family company <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/07/10/jared-kushner-tried-and-failed-to-get-a-half-billion-dollar-bailout-from-qatar/">reportedly</a> sought Qatari investment in a 5th Avenue, 41-story Midtown Manhattan office building that was purchased for a record-setting $1.8 billion in 2007. In 2018, Brookfield Asset Management invested $1.2 billion in the building, saving the Kushners from potentially defaulting on a loan.

QIA had invested in an arm of Brookfield, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/07/kushner-democrats-congressional-probe-bailout/" target=_blank>raising questions</a> about the transaction, given Kushner’s influence on White House Mideast policy. In 2018, Brookfield said “no Qatar-linked entity has any involvement in or even knowledge of this potential transaction.” But Democrats have continued probing whether any Qatari money went into the project.

Amid renewed scrutiny of the deal late this year, Qatar Investment Authority <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/07/kushner-democrats-congressional-probe-bailout/">declined</a> to comment, and neither Jared Kushner or his father, Charles Kushner, responded to requests from The Washington Post for comment. The Post again did not receive comment from a spokesperson for Jared Kushner when asked about his presence at the World Cup final.

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Musk shook hands with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The two spoke briefly through translators. <a href="https://www.tccb.gov.tr/en/news/542/87262/president-erdogan-receives-spacex-founder-musk">Musk previously visited Erdogan</a> at the presidential palace in Ankara in 2017, and they’ve spoken several times in video and phone calls. Erdogan recently said he might discuss Twitter with Musk and how the company’s previous ownership interacted with him, according to <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/science-technology/turkish-president-says-may-speak-with-elon-musk-about-previous-twitter-censorship-against-him/2764605" target=_blank>Turkish state media</a>. Musk’s rocket company SpaceX also carried a Turkish communications satellite into space last year.

Erdogan,  president since 2014,  has steadily centralized more control of the country under his power. He has at points blocked foreign social media companies, including Twitter, from operating in the country. In <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-twitter/turkey-slaps-ad-ban-on-twitter-under-new-social-media-law-idUSKBN29O0CT">2021, Turkey banned Twitter</a> from advertising in the country because it did not comply with a new law requiring foreign social media companies to have Turkey-based staff. Internet freedom advocates have said such laws in Turkey and other countries allow the government to force changes at social media companies by threatening employees with jail time if they don’t comply. The Turkish government says the rules are necessary to maintain control over the country’s digital space.

A spokesperson for Erdogan did not respond to a request for comment.

Carl Recine

Lakshmi Mittal,  executive chairman of steelmaking behemoth ArcelorMittal, was seen speaking with Musk and Kushner during the match. The Indian billionaire began working with his family’s steel plant in the 1970s and grew the company rapidly, buying state-owned steel plants all over the world for low prices and turning them profitable.

In 2006, he led a successful hostile takeover of Arcelor, creating the world’s second-biggest steelmaking corporation, part of an industry that is responsible for upwards of <a href="https://cen.acs.org/articles/99/i22/steel-hydrogen-low-co2-startups.html" target=_blank>seven percent</a> of carbon emissions annually. On Sunday, he took in  the game with Musk, the CEO of the world’s largest electric car maker, which  also manufactures solar panels and energy storage systems.

A spokesperson for ArcelorMittal confirmed Mittal’s identity in images provided by The Post.

Musk also posed for pictures with Russian state television presenter Nailya Asker-Zade. Asker-Zade shared the image on her Telegram account and was seen in videos and images taking a picture with Musk. In May,  Asker-Zade was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/russia-cut-off-from-uk-services">sanctioned by the British</a> government for her role in promoting the Kremlin’s “strategic propaganda” as a presenter and journalist for All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, known as VGTRK.  According to British authorities, Asker-Zade is reportedly in a long-term relationship with the sanctioned chairman of Russia-based VTB Bank, Andrei Kostin, who has been <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/asset-tracker/sanctioned-russian-banker-andrei-kostin-head-of-putins-piggy-bank-uses-canadian-man-as-proxy-for-vast-holdings">described</a> as the “head of Putin’s piggy bank.”

Asker-Zade did not respond to request for comment.

Lars Baron

Turkish celebrity chef Nusret Gokce, better known as “Salt Bae,” popular on the internet for his unique way of salting meats,  was regularly seen with high-profile guests and current and former players during the tournament. On Sunday, Gokce shared a picture of himself and Musk inside  Lusail Stadium with his nearly 50 million Instagram followers.

The image, which is no longer on his profile, included the text, “I’m going to space.”

<i>Aaron Schaffer, Cate Brown and Michael Kranish contributed to this report.</i>

<i>Editing by Karly Domb Sadof, Nadine Ajaka and Laura Stevens.</i>

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Dalton Bennett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at The Washington Post, where he has worked since 2016 after five years covering conflict with the AP.  

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Samuel Oakford is a video reporter for The Washington Post's Visual Forensics team. Before joining The Post, he worked as a senior journalist at Storyful and a reporter for Vice News at the United Nations. He was also a reporter for the civilian harm monitor Airwars and conducted open source investigations for Bellingcat's Yemen Project. 

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Gerrit De Vynck is a tech reporter for The Washington Post. He writes about Google, artificial intelligence and the algorithms that increasingly shape society. He previously covered tech for seven years at Bloomberg News.

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Monique Woo is a photo assignment editor based in San Francisco and covering business and technology. She has been at The Post since 2020 and previously worked on Travel, Gender & Identity and the Magazine.

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Everyone Elon Musk was spotted with at the World Cup final in Qatar

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World Cup - Final France v Argentina - VIPs, Doha, Qatar - 18 Dec 2021

From Jared Kushner to Salt Bae: Here’s who Elon Musk was seen with at the World Cup