Voters are suing Musk for fraud over $1 million in election contests

Voters who have registered Elon Musk‘s million-dollar choose giveaway claimant Tesla Inc. boss and his America PAC, claiming that contestants were misled about how the winners were selected.

A day after surviving a legal challenge in Pennsylvania, Musk’s daily contests took a hit on Tuesday new claims in federal courts in Texas and Michigan.

Also Read: Tracking Election Cases: Judge Rejects RNC Bid to Stop Absentee Ballot Count

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

Elon Musk awards Judey Kamora $1,000,000 during an America PAC town hall in Pennsylvania on October 26.

Photographer: Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Musk and the PAC “swindled” 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 dollars, according to the proposed class action complaint she filed in Austin.

America PAC gave away $1 million each day leading up to Election Day, but Musk’s attorney revealed at a court hearing Monday in Philadelphia that the giveaway was not random. Instead, the PAC chose registered voters from swing states to be public spokespeople for the committee, often based on their personal histories, and required them to sign employment contracts, a committee treasurer testified.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued Musk and the PAC in an attempt to stop them from selling an “illegal lottery” that he said tricked “Philadelphia citizens into giving up their personal identification information and making a political promise in exchange for the chance to win $1 million.”

Read more: Musk $1 Million Contest Survives Lawsuit by Philadelphia DA

Pennsylvania Judge Angelo Foglietta rejected the DA’s request on Monday to stop the competition.

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

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

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

Musk’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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.

To contact the reporter about this story:
Ava Benny-Morrison in New York at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at [email protected]

Peter Blumberg, Steve Stroth

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