Elon Musk is facing another lawsuit related to a 1 million voter lottery run by his political committee America PAC. It seems that when he defended himself in the first case, he provided the fuel for the second case.
Filed in Texas District Court by an Arizona resident on Tuesday, the new 14-page lawsuit accuses Musk and America PAC of fraud and breach of contract related to a $1 million donation launched last month.
Judge refuses to stop Elon Musk’s bid for million dollar ‘sweepstakes’
Open to registered voters in the seven swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, Musk’s $1 million daily giveaway required participants to provide their personal information and sign a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments. Musk and America PAC gave $47 to each person who signed the “appreciation [their] support,” and revealed that those who signed up will be entered into a random drawing to win $1 million, with a new winner chosen each day starting Oct. 19.
Tuesday’s class action now claims that the selection of $1 million winners never happened at all, and that Musk and America PAC lied about it to get people to sign their petition.
The lawsuit refers directly to statements made in a previous lawsuit about Musk’s donations brought by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. In the lawsuit, Krasner accused Musk and America PAC of running an illegal lottery, trying to influence voters, and violating consumer protection laws by making “false, vague or misleading statements.”
Of course, Musk denied such allegations. Defense attorneys said the lottery winners were actually spokespeople for America’s PAC, and that the apparent $1 million winnings were actually salaries. In addition, each recipient was selected based on their personal stories, and signed contracts with America PAC.
“The $1 million recipients were not chosen by chance,” said Musk’s attorney Chris Gober. “We know exactly who will be announced as the recipient of $1 million today and tomorrow.”
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A judge ruled in Musk’s favor on Monday, ruling that America PAC’s $1 million donation could continue. However, the ruling initially appeared to have little material impact considering that the lottery was scheduled to end on Election Day regardless.
However, Musk and America PAC’s defense in this case directly contradicts their public claims that the winners of the $1 million gift will be randomly selected, prompting this new class action just one day later.
“Defendants’ statements that petition signatories would be randomly selected to win $1,000,000 are false, and Defendants knew those statements were false at the time they were made,” the class action lawsuit reads.
“If the plaintiff knew that he had no chance of getting $1,000,000, he would not have signed or supported America PAC’s request and he would not have given it to him. [personal identifying information] to the defendants.”
In addition to damages of at least $5 million, the lawsuit asks for the destruction of all personal information collected by Musk and America PAC from those who participated in the donation. Participants were required to provide their first and last name, email address, postal address, and phone number as a condition for entering the alleged lottery.
The lawsuit alleges that Musk profited from the supposed giveaways by driving his social media site X (formerly known as Twitter), and that he can now profit further by using or selling participants’ personal information. Musk and America PAC largely failed to say how signers’ personal information will be used or stored, the form noting only that phone numbers “will only be used to verify that you are a legitimate petition signer.”
“[The plaintiffs] now that they have discovered that there is no legal lottery in existence, and that they have provided their personal information to the defendants for free, they now want the Defendant to be allowed to use the data or provide it to third parties,” the complaint states.
An NBC News report published last week found that of the first 14 lottery winners of the $1 million lottery, nine were registered Republicans. Of the remaining five, three have publicly expressed their support for Republican candidate Donald Trump, and one identified himself as a former Democrat. None of the winners were registered Democrats or visible supporters of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Musk himself is an outspoken Trump supporter as well, although he has denied allegations that he is using financial incentives to recruit Republicans. The billionaire said that anyone who signs the petition “has a chance every day to win” $1 million, and that they “can come from any party or none at all.”
It may technically be true that supporters of either political party can sign a petition for a “chance” at the $1 million prize. However, judging by the statistics of the actual winners and the revelations about how they are chosen, it seems that your chances are best if your political beliefs align with Musk’s.
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