Philly DA sues to halt Elon Musk’s $1 million voter giveaway in Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner on Monday sued to halt Elon Musk’s $1 million daily giveaway to voters in battleground states including Pennsylvania, calling it an illegal lottery that skirts state requirements and violates consumer protection laws.

The suit, filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, is the first legal action challenging the controversial sweepstakes launched earlier this month by Musk’s America PAC. It comes a week after the U.S. Justice Department similarly warned the tech billionaire that the giveaway violates federal laws banning inducements to voters.

But Musk, so far, has ignored that warning and continued his pledge to dole out awards to registered voters in seven battleground states every day until Election Day. His PAC has given away more than $9 million — nearly half of it to Pennsylvania voters.

The new lawsuit grants Krasner, a progressive prosecutor and frequent target of Republican ire, the opportunity to take on Musk in court, as he’s emerged as one of GOP Donald Trump’s chief surrogates in the state in the waning days of what is an extraordinarily close and contentious presidential race.

“America PAC and Musk must be stopped, immediately, before the upcoming Presidential Election on Nov. 5,” Krasner’s lawsuit read. “That is because America PAC and Musk hatched their illegal lottery scheme to influence voters in that election.”

Representatives for Musk’s America PAC, which has committed nearly $118 million to reelect Trump, could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

According to its website, the sweepstakes is “exclusively open to registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina” — all key battleground states in which Musk has mobilized a campaign to turn out voters for Trump.

To be eligible, participants must sign a petition on the PAC’s website affirming their support of the First and Second Amendment to the Constitution.

Musk handed out the first oversize check at an Oct. 19 pro-Trump rally in Harrisburg and has followed it up with daily prizes — often touted in glossy video interviews with the winners on his social media platform, X.

But the giveaways drew almost immediate scrutiny from election law experts who said that by opening the contest only to registered voters, Musk appeared to be offering items of value to battleground state residents in exchange for registering to vote — a violation of federal law.

After the U.S. Justice Department warned the PAC last week of that apparent violation in a letter, Musk defended his giveaways during an online town hall event Friday on X.

“To be clear, this is not a petition to vote for or register for anyone,” he said. “It’s really a petition in support of the Constitution of the United States, and in particular, freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.”

He has continued to give away nearly $5 million in prizes to registered voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania, according to America PAC’s website.

More than 280,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania had signed the petition to enter as of Wednesday, according to the PAC. Its last listed award in Pennsylvania was granted to a Lancaster voter on Saturday.

But in his lawsuit Monday, Krasner marshaled a novel legal argument seeking to block any further awards in Pennsylvania.

While Pennsylvania laws prohibit paying bribes in exchange for votes, there is no equivalent statute barring inducements for registering to vote.

Instead, Krasner argued Musk’s giveaways are operating essentially as a lottery — which under Pennsylvania law can only be run by the state and for the benefit of the Pennsylvania seniors.

Krasner also maintained that America PAC appears to be violating several aspects of Pennsylvania’s consumer protection laws — including by failing to publish detailed lottery rules or to demonstrate how it is protecting the personal information of participants.

The district attorney also questioned the fairness of contest.

“Though Musk says that a winner’s selection is ‘random,’ that appears to be false,” the lawsuit says. “Multiple winners that have been selected are individuals who have shown up at Trump rallies in Pennsylvania.”

Krasner has asked the court to issue an injunction barring the continued operation of the giveaways in Pennsylvania.

A judge has not yet set a hearing in the case.