Judge Says Elon Musk Must Face Class-Action Over $1 Million Election Giveaway

A federal judge in Austin, Texas, ruled on Wednesday that Tesla CEO Elon Musk must face a class-action lawsuit that says he cheated voters by giving away $1 million a day during the 2024 presidential election.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman turned down Musk’s request to drop the case because Arizona resident Jacqueline McAferty had made reasonable claims that the world’s richest person and his political action committee, America PAC, lied to voters about the nature of their petition-signing incentive program, according to Reuters.

The lawsuit is based on claims that Musk and America PAC tricked voters in seven swing states into giving their personal information by falsely advertising the giveaway as a random lottery. McAferty says that even though public statements said that recipients would be chosen at random, participants “had no real chance to collect” the promised payments, according to Reuters.

Disagreement at the Heart of the Issue

Musk’s lawyers said that the program was clearly not an illegal lottery because it said that the people who got $1 million were “selected to earn” the money and were supposed to be spokespeople for America PAC. They said these “red flags” showed that the payments weren’t prizes in the usual way.

But Judge Pitman noted that the defendants’ public statements made it seem like the money was “awarded” and could be “won,” which confused people about the program’s purpose, per Reuters. Obama appointed the judge, who stated that voters could have reasonably believed Musk’s public statements offered a genuine lottery chance.

Ongoing Legal Problems

This ruling is the most recent legal blow to Musk’s work related to the election. His PAC also faced close scrutiny during the 2024 campaign. The Justice Department warned that the giveaway might break federal laws that make it illegal to pay people to register to vote.

The goal of America PAC was to help Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election. As part of the entry process, the organization asked petition signers for their names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers. Reuters reports that McAferty obtained this information under false pretenses.

Reuters said that neither Musk nor anyone from America PAC responded right away to requests for comment after the ruling on Wednesday. The case is now in the discovery phase, where lawyers will look at internal communications and documents about the giveaway program.

This story is still going on, and it will be updated as new information comes in. The discovery phase could have a big effect on the ongoing legal proceedings and maybe even give us new information about the allegations. People are closely monitoring the situation as it could establish a precedent for future cases related to political fundraising and transparency.