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Judge throws out Sam Altman’s sister’s lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse— but leaves door open to refile

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A federal judge has tossed a lawsuit brought by the sister of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman alleging he sexually abused her as a child.

Annie Altman’s allegations were brought too late for her lawsuit to survive, US District Judge Zachary Bluestone ruled Friday.

Bluestone, however, gave Annie Altman’s lawsuit a lifeline by allowing her to refile it using Missouri’s particular Childhood Sexual Abuse law, which offers an extended statute of limitations. He gave her until April 3 to file a new lawsuit.

In the same Friday order, the judge greenlit a countersuit from Sam Altman accusing Annie of defamation and of abusing the legal process.

Annie Altman filed her lawsuit in a federal court in Missouri in January 2025. She alleged that Sam Altman, who is nine years older than her, sexually abused her between 1997 and 2006, beginning when she was three years old, when they were growing up in Clayton, Missouri.

Sam Altman has denied the allegations. In a public statement following the filing of the lawsuit, he, his two younger brothers, and their mother said Annie Altman had “mental health issues.”

Sam Altman’s countersuit said that his sister made up the allegations of sexual abuse — posting them on social media as well as including them in her lawsuit — after their family declined her “demands for unrestricted financial support” in light of her mental health issues.

“One of the only points of agreement in this case is that the claims are disturbing — particularly so if they prove true but nonetheless unfortunate if not,” Bluestone wrote in his Friday ruling.

An attorney for Sam Altman declined to comment for this story. Attorneys for Annie Altman didn’t immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.




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Read Sam Altman’s internal Slack message to employees saying ICE ‘is going too far’

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Being patriotic means you also need to call out “overreach” when you see it, Sam Altman privately told OpenAI employees in a message that said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had gone “too far.”

“I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too,” the OpenAI CEO wrote in an internal Slack message. “But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far.”

OpenAI employees responded positively to Altman’s message on Slack, including heart and thank-you emojis.

Altman’s message, which was first reported by The New York Times’ Dealbook newsletter, comes as CEO and tech leaders face internal and external pressures in the wake of the deadly Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday. Pretti is the second person to be fatally shot by federal law enforcement amid a surge in immigration enforcement in and around Minneapolis.

Altman also praised Trump’s leadership in his message and expressed hope that the president could cool tensions — the latest example of a CEO attempting to balance being critical of actions tied to the Trump administration’s policies while also staying on the president’s good side.

“President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country,” Altman wrote. “I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations.”

As a general principle, Altman wrote that OpenAI tries to “stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much.”

On Monday, the White House appeared to be recalibrating its response in the wake of significant criticism, including from some congressional Republicans.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to associate Trump with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House advisor Stephen Miller’s initial statements that Pretti was trying to commit domestic terrorism.

Read Sam Altman’s message to employees

I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too. But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far. There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right.
President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country. I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations.
As a company, we aim to stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much. We didn’t become super woke when that was popular, we didn’t start talking about masculine corporate energy when that was popular, and we are not going to make a lot of performative statements now about safety or politics or anything else. But we are going to continue to try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best as we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.

Correction: January 27, 2026 — Alex Pretti was fatally shot by Border Patrol, not ICE.

Do you work at OpenAI? Contact the reporter from a non-work email and device at bgriffiths@businessinsider.com




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‘This case is going to trial’: Judge rejects Sam Altman’s efforts to toss Elon Musk’s OpenAI lawsuit

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It looks like Sam Altman and Elon Musk are headed for a courtroom showdown.

During a hearing on Wednesday, a California judge said she plans to reject Altman’s lawyers’ last-ditch efforts to end Musk’s case against OpenAI and its CEO.

“This case is going to trial,” US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said at a hearing to consider whether the evidence was sufficient to warrant a jury trial.

“I think there’s plenty of evidence,” she said, referring to Musk’s case. “It’s circumstantial, but that’s how these things work.”

In his lawsuit filed in 2024, Musk accused OpenAI of misleading him in its decision to abandon its original nonprofit mission and structure in favor of a profit-oriented model, including through its partnership with Microsoft.

Musk says he donated $38 million to the maker of ChatGPT over the years to support its mission to develop AI for the benefit of humankind. The Tesla CEO is seeking monetary damages, as well as a judgment to void Microsoft’s licensing agreement with OpenAI.

At a hearing on Wednesday, an Oakland federal court judge said she felt there was enough evidence that Musk may have been deceived to allow the case to move forward to a jury. A trial is scheduled for March.

“There were assurances made, and promises made, that the structure would be maintained,” she said. “There was lots of information that was not shared.”

The judge added that she also felt “there are strong arguments by the defense.”

“I think the jury is going to get to decide,” she said.

OpenAI lawyers have denied Musk’s allegations, saying Musk was aware of the company’s for-profit plans as early as 2018. OpenAI has also pointed out that it is still controlled by OpenAI’s nonprofit arm.

“Mr Musk’s lawsuit continues to be baseless and a part of his ongoing pattern of harassment, and we look forward to demonstrating this at trial,” a spokesperson for OpenAI told Business Insider. “We remain focused on empowering the OpenAI Foundation, which is already one of the best resourced nonprofits ever.”

A spokesperson for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk has filed multiple lawsuits against OpenAI. Most recently, his AI company, xAI, sued OpenAI in September, accusing it of stealing trade secrets and targeting its employees for recruitment. At the time, an OpenAI spokesperson told Business that the lawsuit is “the latest chapter in Mr. Musk’s ongoing harassment.”

Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015, but left the company in 2018. At the time he said his work with OpenAI could present a conflict of interest with Tesla’s AI ambitions.

Since, Musk has repeatedly criticized Altman and OpenAI, including the company’s structure. Musk later went on to launch his own AI company, xAI, in 2023.




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The history of Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s relationship and feuds, which date back to the early days of OpenAI

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SpaceX is planning a secondary share sale, according to an internal message to employees seen by multiple outlets, which would value the company at $800 billion, reclaiming the top spot among the world’s most valuable private companies from OpenAI.

OpenAI executed its own secondary share sale in October, valuing the company at $500 billion.

The letter to employees also says SpaceX is exploring an initial public offering to “raise a significant amount of capital,” The Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported. It would be the largest IPO in history.

“The thinking is that if we execute brilliantly and the markets cooperate, a public offering could raise a significant amount of capital,” SpaceX Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen told staff in the December 12 message.

Musk also hinted at an IPO earlier this week.

After journalist Eric Berger published an op-ed arguing that SpaceX is likely to go public soon, Musk replied, “as usual, Eric is accurate.”

The company is aiming to raise more than $25 billion through an initial public offering, a move that could push its valuation above $1 trillion, Reuters reported.




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