Elon Musk’s pro-Trump America PAC was hit with two separate civil fraud lawsuits on Election Day for allegedly deceiving swing-state voters by claiming that the winners of its daily $1 million giveaways were selected randomly.
America PAC handed out $1 million to a select few swing-state voters who signed a petition in support of the First and Second Amendments in the final days leading up to the presidential election. Only voters from the seven swing states — Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina — were eligible for the daily $1 million awards.
An Arizona woman, Jacqueline McAferty, and a Michigan attorney, Robert Alvarez, sued the Trump-supporting billionaire and his political-action committee on Tuesday. Both lawsuits made similar claims.
McAferty’s suit accuses Musk and America PAC of fraud and breach of contract, saying they collected personal data such as her name, email address, mailing address, and phone number that could be sold. The defendants also profited from the giveaways “by driving traffic and attention to Musk’s X platform,” the class-action complaint claims.
McAferty signed the petition on October 20, the day after it was announced. The woman did not specify the compensation for the damages she and others allegedly suffered.
Meanwhile, Alvarez’s suit takes issue with the fact that almost all of the selected winners were registered Republicans or leaned Republican. “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,” the court document reads.
On Friday, NBC News reported that nine of the 14 winners selected at the time were registered Republican voters and at least three of the five other winners appeared to support former president Donald Trump.
“Musk and the PAC’s false and misleading representations were meant to inflate the interest in their petition and the subject and theme of its support for the Republican candidate for President,” the suit says. “Their inducement was targeted to registered voters in swing states with the intent that it would inflate support for their chosen candidate in those states specifically.”
Alvarez signed the petition on October 29. He seeks at least $2 million in damages because of the defendants’ allegedly fraudulent actions and breach of contract.
The litigation came one day after a lawyer for America PAC revealed in court that the cash giveaways were not random. The admission came during a Pennsylvania court hearing, in which Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner alleged that Musk and America PAC had facilitated an illegal lottery to sway voters in the state.
Musk’s lawyers argued that the sweepstakes program did not constitute a lottery because the prize recipients were not chosen randomly or by chance, even though Musk described the program in that way when he first announced it late last month. Rather, the recipients were characterized as paid spokespeople for the group.
“The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance,” Musk lawyer Chris Gober told the court on Monday. “We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”
Given that the last two winners were from Arizona and Michigan, Gober assured the court that Pennsylvania’s election process would not be affected.
After the hearing, the judge declined to block the district attorney’s request to halt the giveaway program, given that it would end a day later. Of the 18 total winners, the four who were residents of Pennsylvania were selected early on.
Monday’s testimony came after Musk’s request to move the case to a federal court was blocked on Friday. The lawsuit was remanded to state court. Musk’s bid managed to delay a hearing from last week to Monday. The Tesla CEO did not attend the hearing, which came one day before the election.
Musk has donated $75 million to America PAC since the super PAC was formed in July to back Trump. Prior to the fraud allegations, Musk maintained the giveaways were not designed to sway voters toward any particular candidate.