Voters sue Elon Musk for fraud over $1 million election sweepstakes

By Ava Benny-Morrison  Voters who signed up for Elon Musk’s million-dollar voter giveaway are suing the Tesla Inc. chief and his America PAC, claiming entrants were misled about how winners were picked.  

A day after surviving a legal challenge in Pennsylvania, Musk’s daily sweepstakes was hit Tuesday with fresh claims in federal courts in Texas and Michigan.

 

Jacqueline McAferty of Arizona alleged she never would have signed the America PAC petition and handed over personal identifying information if she knew the winners weren’t picked at random and she had no chance of taking home $1 million. In reality, the winners weren’t picked at random, but were carefully selected to be spokespeople for the pro-Donald Trump political action committee.

 

 

Musk and the PAC “defrauded” McAferty and others by seeking their political support on the billionaire’s social media platform X, encouraging people to sign a petition calling for free speech and the right to bear arms with the chance to “randomly” win $1 million, according to the proposed class-action complaint she filed in Austin.

 

The America PAC was giving away $1 million every day in the lead-up to Election Day, but Musk’s lawyer revealed at a court hearing on Monday in Philadelphia that the giveaway wasn’t random. Rather, the PAC picked registered voters from swing states to be public spokespeople for the committee, often based on their personal stories, and required them to sign employment contracts, a treasurer for the committee testified. 

 

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued Musk and the PAC in a bid to stop them from peddling an “unlawful lottery,” which he said lulled “Philadelphia citizens to give up their personal identifying information and make a political pledge in exchange for the chance to win $1 million.”

 

Pennsylvania Judge Angelo Foglietta rejected the DA’s request on Monday to halt the contest. 

 

In her Austin case, McAferty is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages and an order requiring Musk and the PAC to destroy her information.  

 

The Michigan case was filed by Robert Anthony Alvarez, who identified himself as a state resident supporting Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Alvarez said he signed the petition to support free speech and gun rights and believed he had a chance of winning $1 million because the sweepstakes was promoted as a “nonpartisan giveaway.”

 

“A closer look at the recipients of the $1 million prize show a clear pattern: that the selection not only is not random, but is a targeted process that eliminates anyone who is not a Republican or vocal supporter of Donald Trump,” according to the complaint filed by Alvarez.

 

Musk’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

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The Texas case is McAferty v. Musk, 24-cv-01346, US District Court, Western District of Texas (Austin). The Michigan case is Alvarez v. Musk, 24-cv-01174, US District Court, Western District of Michigan.