- A lawsuit by the Philadelphia DA would stop Elon Musk’s $1M-a-day voter giveaway as early as Friday.
- DA Larry Krasner calls the giveaway an illegal lottery.
- A hearing on Krasner’s request for an emergency injunction will come 4 days before the election.
The Philadelphia district attorney will take Elon Musk’s America PAC to court on Friday morning in an effort to shut down a $1 million daily giveaway that the DA calls an “illegal lottery” in a lawsuit filed Monday.
“If not enjoined, their lottery scheme and unfair and deceptive conduct will irreparably harm Philadelphians (and others in Pennsylvania) as well as tarnish the public’s right to a free and fair election,” the lawsuit filed by DA Larry Krasner said.
On Friday, lawyers for Krasner will demand that Musk and his PAC be “restrained and enjoined from promoting, maintaining or operating their lottery,” according to a draft injunction filed with a lawsuit.
Krasner hopes to stop Musk from offering a daily chance to win $1 million if they sign a petition supporting the Constitution. The drive has a catch: people must be registered voters to apply for the giveaway.
By Monday, at least four people have said they had received the winfalls.
Representatives and attorneys for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit by Business Insider. A spokesperson for America PAC declined to comment, instead directing BI to a new post from the PAC’s X account showing a photo of “Jordan from Hastings, Michigan” holding a mockup of a $1 million check.
The DA’s demand for an injunction halting the giveaway will be heard at 10 a.m. Friday before Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anne Marie B. Coyle, who took the bench in 2013 after running on a Republican slate.
Krasner’s lawsuit says the giveaway is an unregulated lottery that violates Pennsylvania law.
Musk and his PAC “have shrouded key aspects of the lottery in secrecy,” including by failing to detail contest rules, the odds of winning, and how winners are selected,” the lawsuit said.
Musk himself has called the selection of winners “random.”
“We’re gonna be awarding a million dollars, randomly, every day from now until the election,” the lawsuit said, quoting from a video post from Musk’s X account.
Musk himself suggests the purpose of the giveaway is to alert people to the election, explaining in the same video, “I figured ‘How do we get people to know about it?'” the lawsuit said.
“Defendants have already unlawfully acquired data from over 280,000 unsuspecting Pennsylvanians and will suffer no injury by being enjoined from further wrongdoing,” the lawsuit also said.
The offer has been criticized by Democrats as a cash-for-registration drive designed to help boost Donald Trump’s numbers. Federal law bars paying someone to either vote or register to vote.
This is a developing story; please check back for details.
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