A Pennsylvania judge handed Elon Musk a legal victory on Monday, ruling that Mr. Musk’s election sweepstakes, in which registered voters who signed a petition to support the Constitution were entered into a drawing to win $1 million, did not violate state law.
Judge Antonio Foglietta of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas denied a request from Philadelphia’s district attorney, Larry Krasner, to issue an emergency injunction against Mr. Musk and put an immediate end to the giveaways.
Mr. Musk’s win is primarily symbolic. Election Day is Tuesday. The Musk team had already cut $1 million checks for 17 registered voters across the country and had no plans to give away more money to any voters in Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit pulled back the curtain on how Mr. Musk and his team plotted the $1 million sweepstakes, which has generated significant attention and legal controversy. Mr. Musk’s petition was meant to build media publicity for his organization, America PAC, and also allow it to build a list of loyal supporters of former President Donald J. Trump, but full details on precisely how it worked had not been made public before Monday.
The daylong hearing in Philadelphia that preceded the ruling focused on the rules of the contest and whether it constituted a lottery in which people were eligible to win $1 million randomly. Mr. Krasner had sued America PAC, arguing that it broke the state’s lottery and consumer-protection laws.
Mr. Musk’s team argued that its approach was not a lottery, at least not a genuine one. That is because the super PAC’s winners were not chosen “randomly,” despite Mr. Musk’s initial description of the program when he awarded the first check onstage in Pennsylvania. When pitching the petition on X, Mr. Musk used the phrase “a daily chance” to describe who could win.
But in court on Monday, Mr. Musk’s team argued that the winners were selected based in part on their personal story and “suitability” to be paid, contractual spokesmen for the super PAC.
“The opportunity to earn,” Chris Young, Mr. Musk’s top political aide and the treasurer of the super PAC, testified, “is different from the chance to win.”
Mr. Krasner and his lawyer, John Summers, argued that the sweepstakes was a “grift” and a “scam.” Mr. Krasner called Mr. Musk’s new logic on Monday “the most amazingly disingenuous defense that I’ve heard in recent times.” And he called the project “political marketing masquerading as a lottery.”
Despite being a named defendant, Mr. Musk skipped the hearing.
The petition has been the most audacious and high-profile part of Mr. Musk’s $119 million bet on Mr. Trump through America PAC. The Department of Justice late last month also sent Mr. Musk’s super PAC a so-called “warning letter” that raised the possibility of illegality, but that did not deter him and he carried on with the sweepstakes.
The post Musk’s $1 Million Checks to Voters Don’t Violate Law, Judge Rules appeared first on New York Times.
