A Pennsylvania judge on Monday declined an effort by the Philadelphia district attorney to stop Elon Musk’s America PAC from doling out cash prizes to registered voters.
The judge's injunction means Musk's PAC will be able to do one last giveaway on Tuesday, the last day of the offer.
The America PAC giveaway has promised million-dollar checks to some voters and $47 and $100 payments to other registered voters who signed a political pledge in swing states. It was advertised as a lottery-style giveaway through Election Day.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued Musk and America PAC last month, alleging that the giveaways were an illegal, unregulated lottery, but at a hearing Monday, America PAC attorney Chris Gober said it wasn’t a lottery because winners aren’t determined by chance.
The PAC picks winners who effectively serve as spokespeople, and they then “earn” $1 million for doing so, Gober said.
If that is the case, attorney John Summers argued on behalf of the city in his closing argument, “it’s one of the great scams of the last 50 years.”
Krasner, appearing in court as a witness, argued that Musk’s giveaway was instead a data grab, obtaining voters’ personal information with the promise of a potential prize.
Musk’s lawyers defended the effort as free speech, with attorney Andy Taylor calling the DA's lawsuit a “dreadful violation of constitutional rights.”
They also argued that because the contest was ending Tuesday — with a $1 million prize going to someone in Michigan, not Pennsylvania — and that thousands of checks were already in the mail, the Pennsylvania case was moot.
Musk’s legal team delayed this hearing last week, filing to move the case to federal court. The case was then remanded back to state court, allowing Monday's hearing to go forward.
The lawsuit, a civil matter, does not preclude the state from pursuing criminal charges against Musk or America PAC in the future. During Monday's hearing, Krasner testified that evidence he had reviewed in an “ongoing criminal investigation” indicated to him that the awards were supposed to be doled out at random — which America PAC’s Director Chris Young said was not the case.
Dustin M. Slaughter, a spokesperson for Krasner, said after the judge's ruling: “A lot of truth came out of court today, and it was jaw-dropping. Stay tuned.”
