Per Woofun AI, court filings from the Elon Musk v. OpenAI litigation expose a wealth accumulation mechanism utilized by Sam Altman. Since Altman lacks direct equity in OpenAI, he allegedly orchestrated procurement contracts with external startups to artificially boost their valuations, thereby attracting high-premium investments from major shareholders like Thrive Capital and partners such as SoftBank.

Data indicates that following Thrive Capital’s $15.5 billion valuation investment in fusion energy firm Helion in June 2026, Altman’s personal stake surged to at least $4.1 billion. Although OpenAI initially rejected a requested $500 million investment in 2025, a revised cooperation agreement was signed in March 2026, coinciding with Altman stepping down as a Helion director. Similar valuation spikes were observed in chipmaker Cerebras and life extension startup Retro Biosciences, prompting a formal investigation by the US House Oversight Committee and calls for SEC review.