Judge allows Elon Musk's $1 million election giveaways
A Pennsylvania judge on Monday rejected Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s attempt to block tech multibillionaire Elon Musk's $1 million daily giveaways to voters in swing states on the eve of the presidential election.
Lawyers for Musk's pro-Trump Super PAC had argued that the political action committee picks winners of the lucrative payouts based on who would be good spokespeople for its agenda and not registered voters at random ? as Musk had initially described the prizes.
Chris Gober, a lawyer for the PAC, made that argument in an effort to persuade Judge Angelo Foglietta that the giveaway was not an "illegal lottery," as Krasner alleged in a lawsuit seeking to block the payments. Musk, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, has said the final winner will be announced on Election Day, Tuesday.
In response, Krasner took the stand to say the $1 million daily giveaways in the seven swing states expected to decide the election were indeed an illegal lottery. He told Judge Foglietta some Pennsylvania residents had been "scammed for their information" and called the giveaway a "grift" aimed at political marketing.
Foglietta denied Krasner's bid in a brief written order and said he would lay out his reasoning later.
Text us your Election Day questions: Join Your Vote, our messaging group
Controversy and questions about the payments' legality
At first, Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, described the giveaways as a lottery-like system, but he changed the public messaging after legal experts – and, reportedly, the Justice Department – raised questions about its legality.
"There is no prize to be won, instead recipients must fulfill contractual obligations to serve as a spokesperson for the PAC," Gober said in the hearing.
The hearing in the key swing state comes just one day before Trump, Musk’s favored candidate, faces off against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in a tightly contested race.
More: Elon Musk sued by Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner over $1 million swing-state voter lottery
In recent months, Musk and his political action committee have backed Trump with money, campaign operations and the influence of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that Musk bought for $44 billion in 2022.
Musk and the PAC have been handing out the oversized $1 million checks since Oct. 19. Krasner, a Democrat, sued Musk and his PAC on Oct. 28, describing the giveaways as an illegal lottery that violates state consumer protection laws.
In court Monday, a lawyer for Krasner's office, John Summers, said Gober's comments were a "complete admission of liability."
"We just heard this guy say, 'my boss, my client, called this random,'" Summers said. "'We promised people that they were going to participate in a random process, but it's a process where we pre-select people.'"
Musk has heavily advertised the giveaway, and said his offer is limited to registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. America PAC so far has given out $1 million prizes to 16 people and said the final prize will be awarded Nov. 5.
Musk and his America PAC sought to move the case to federal court but a federal judge on Friday ordered it sent back to state court.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge won't block Elon Musk's $1 million giveaways on eve of election