A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that Elon Musk can proceed with his $1 million-a-day voter giveaway in swing states until the presidential election on Tuesday.
Judge Angelo Foglietta of Common Pleas Court made the decision on Monday, following arguments from Musk’s legal team, who stated that the winners serve as paid representatives rather than being selected at random. The judge did not provide an immediate explanation for his ruling. District Attorney Larry Krasner, a member of the Democratic Party, referred to the initiative as a scam intended to manipulate a national election and has requested its termination.
In response, Musk’s attorney, Chris Gober, announced that the last two recipients of the sweepstakes will be selected in Arizona on Monday and in Michigan on Tuesday, just ahead of the presidential election. “The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance,” Gober said Monday. “We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”
Krasner contends that the distribution of the money breaches state election regulations and goes against the commitments made by Musk during his appearance alongside Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 19.
“We’re going to be awarding a million dollars randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election,” Musk vowed.
In an Oct. 20 social media post shown in court, Musk said anyone signing the petition had “a daily chance of winning $1M!”
Summers pressed him about Musk’s choice of the terms “chance” and “randomly,” leading Young to admit that “randomly” wasn’t his preferred wording.
Young clarified that the winners were aware they would be invited on stage, but they were not informed in advance that they would receive cash prizes.
Musk was absent from the hearing, having pledged over $70 million to the super PAC aimed at supporting Trump and other Republican candidates in the upcoming November elections.
“This was all a political marketing masquerading as a lottery,” Krasner testified Monday. “That’s what it is. A grift.”
