The “winners” of a daily $1 million sweepstakes from Elon Musk and his Donald Trump-supporting political action committee were not “randomly” selected at all, according to an attorney for the group.
Swing-state voters who signed the PAC’s petition for a chance to be presented with a novelty-sized check were instead deliberately chosen to be paid “spokespeople” for the group, lawyer Chris Gober told a judge in Philadelphia on Monday.
Gober said that there is “no prize to be won” at all, and that recipients instead “must fulfill contractual obligations” on behalf of the PAC, he told Judge Angelo Foglietta in a Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas courtroom on Monday.
The world’s wealthiest man and his PAC were accused of launching an “illegal lottery scheme” to influence voters ahead of the presidential election with a daily drawing that awards $1 million to people who sign a petition supporting First and Second amendment rights, according to a lawsuit from Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner.
The lawsuit marked the first legal action against the billionaire’s stunt, which was only open to registered voters in seven swing states and includes a daily prize every day until Election Day, drawing warnings from election law experts and the Department of Justice that the scheme could be seen as an illegal vote-buying operation.
Krasner’s lawsuit accuses the group of violating consumer protection laws and falsely advertising a “random” contest when only the state of Pennsylvania can administer such lotteries.
Gober admitted that the $1 million winners “are not chosen by chance.”
“We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow,” he said.
On Monday afternoon, Judge Foglietta allowed Musk and his PAC to continue the giveaways, which America PAC says will go to voters in Arizona and Michigan.
Gober’s statements to the court are a “complete admission of liability,” Krasner’s attorney John Summers told the court on Monday.
The “winners” thus far are all registered Republican voters or Republican-leaning voters, most of whom voted early in this year’s elections, before they were awarded the money. The lawsuit in Philadelphia targeted the awards to Pennsylvania recipients.
Krasner also testified on Monday that people who signed the petition were “scammed” into handing over their information in a scheme without any published rules or privacy policies.
Musk — who did not attend Monday’s hearing after blowing off last week’s initial court date — is “the heartbeat of America PAC” who announces the winners at rallies and presents them with checks, according to Summers.
“He was the one who presented the checks, albeit large cardboard checks,” Summers said. “We don’t really know if there are any real checks.”
Krasner called the stunt a “political marketing masquerading” as an “illegal lottery.”
Musk has defended the contest, claiming that the petition is not designed to register people to vote and is merely a “petition in support of the Constitution of the United States, and in particular, freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” he said on X last month.
Pennsylvania — a closely watched swing state with 19 electoral votes at stake — is at the center of a growing amount of Republican-led litigation and conspiracy theories surrounding the 2024 election.
Musk has emerged as Trump’s most influential donor, contributing at least $120 million to the Trump-supporting PAC he founded and relying on the influential social media platform he owns and where election conspiracy theories are thriving — to boost the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign. Trump has also promised that Musk will serve in a potential Trump administration to lead an office dedicated to cutting $2 trillion in government spending.
