Elon Musk's America PAC 'lottery' would shut down Friday if Philadelphia DA gets his way
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- 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 for signing a petition supporting the Constitution and the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
The giveaway, which began October 19, has two catches. Participants must be a resident of one of the seven swing states, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, or North Carolina. And participants must be registered voters to apply.
Also on Monday, America PAC announced the tenth million-dollar winner.
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.
Legal experts previously told Business Insider the America PAC's contest likely violated the spirit of the law and may have outright crossed the line.
Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School, said it would be surprising to see the Justice Department take action given the little time left before Election Day. The DOJ did send a letter to America PAC warning that the giveaway might be illegal, a development first reported by 24sight News. America PAC did not announce a winner on Wednesday after the warning letter became public but has resumed announcements.
Just hours after Krasner's lawsuit became public, America PAC crowned its latest winner, a man from Hastings, Michigan.
Musk has become one of the most vocal pro-Republican megadonors in the presidential race. He just finished a series of town halls in Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state in the race.