Elon Musk Enlisted Former Poker Player Ahead Of $5.5 Billion Mystery Donation

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk enlisted professional poker player Igor Kurganov just before making a $5.57 billion donation to an unknown recipient, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

What Happened: The high-stakes professional poker player Kurganov, who turned into a philanthropist, has recently been enlisted by Musk to keep in contact with grantees and consider their proposals. 

Kurganov co-founded Raising for Effective Giving, a charity-fundraising nonprofit organization in 2014, along with a group of poker players. REG recommends “highly cost-effective charities.” 

He’s also an adviser to the Forethought Foundation, a project by the Centre for Effective Altruism. 

See Also: This Is How Much In Tesla Shares Elon Musk Gave Away To Charity Last Year

Why It Matters: The world’s richest person gave away shares worth $5.57 billion to charity last year, regulatory filings showed earlier this week.

Musk runs a foundation that makes grants in five areas, some of which intersect with his business ventures. These include renewable energy research and advocacy, human space exploration research and advocacy, pediatric research, science and engineering education, and the development of safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity.

The donation took place around the same time last year as when the world’s richest person was executing a series of stock sales.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 5.3% higher at $922.4 a share on Tuesday.

Photo: Courtesy of JD Lasica via Wikimedia

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