Elon Musk's $1 million a day voter sweepstakes may continue

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The $1 million a day voter sweepstakes The Elon Musk The political action committee meeting in swing states can continue until Tuesday's presidential election, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Monday.

Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta made the ruling after Musk's lawyers said the winners were paid speakers and not chosen at random, and did not immediately explain his reasoning.

District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, had called the trial a fraud “intended to actually influence a national election” and called for it to be dropped.

Musk attorney Chris Gober said the last two recipients before Tuesday's presidential election would be in Arizona on Monday and Michigan on Tuesday.

“The $1 million recipients are not chosen at random,” Gober said Monday. “We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”

Chris Young, the director and treasurer of America PACstated that recipients are pre-screened to “find out their personality and make sure they are someone whose values ​​align with the group.”

Musk's lawyers defended the action, calling it a “core political speech” because participants would have to sign a petition supporting the US Constitution. They also said Krasner's attempt to close the program under Pennsylvania law was moot because there would be no additional Pennsylvania winners until the program ended on Tuesday.

Krasner believes the giveaways violate state election law and are inconsistent what Musk promised when he announced them during a performance with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Musk's campaign in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 19: “We will randomly award one million dollars every day from now until the election to people who sign the petition,” Musk promised.

Young also acknowledged that the PAC made recipients sign nondisclosure agreements.

“They couldn't really reveal the truth about how they got the money, could they?” Summers asked.

“Sounds right,” Young said.

In an Oct. 20 social media post shown in court, Musk said anyone who signs the petition “will have a daily chance to win $1 million!”

Summers questioned him because Musk used both the words “coincidence” and “coincidence,” leading Young to admit that the latter wasn't “the word I would have chosen.”

Young said the winners knew they would be called to the stage, but not specifically that they would win the money.

Musk did not attend the hearing. He committed more than $70 million to the super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.

“This was all political marketing disguised as a lottery,” Krasner testified Monday. “That's it. A fraud.”

Lawyers for Musk and the PAC said they do not plan to extend the lottery beyond Tuesday. Krasner said the first three winners, starting Oct. 19, came from Pennsylvania in the days leading up to the state's Oct. 21 voter registration deadline.

Other winners came from the battleground states of Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan. It's not clear whether anyone has received the money yet. The PAC promised to receive it by November 30, according to evidence shown in court.

More than a million people from the seven states registered for the sweepstakes by signing a petition expressing their support for the right to freedom of speech and to bear arms, the First Two Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, support. Krasner questioned how the PAC might use the data it will have long after the election.

“They were scammed for their information,” Krasner said. “It can be used almost indefinitely.”

Krasner's team called Musk “the heartbeat of America PAC” and the person who announced the winners and presented the checks.

“He was the one who handed over the checks, albeit large cardboard checks. We don’t really know if there are any real controls in place,” Summers said.

Foglietta led the case at Philadelphia City Hall after Musk and the PAC lost an attempt to take him to federal court.

Krasner said he could still consider criminal charges because his job is to protect both lotteries and election integrity.

Pennsylvania remains a key battleground state with 19 electoral votes and both Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris have made repeated visits to the state, including stops scheduled for Monday The final hours of the campaign.

Krasner — who noted that he has been driving a Tesla for a long time — said he may also seek civil damages for the Pennsylvania registrants. Musk is the CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla. He also owns the social media platform X, on which America PAC published posts about the competition, and the rocket ship manufacturer SpaceX.