PHILADELPHIA — Elon Musk’s daily $1 million giveaway to voters in battleground states is not a lottery and its winners were not chosen by chance, his lawyers said in court Monday as they sought to defend the tech billionaire’s sweepstakes against a lawsuit by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Instead, Musk’s attorneys maintained the 17 winners so far were selected from among the pool of registered voters who signed a petition launched by his America PAC and screened for specific characteristics including their backgrounds, personal stories, and “suitability” for serving as a “spokesperson” for Musk’s political organization.
“You will hear evidence,” Musk attorney Chris Gober said at the start of a hearing before Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta, “that there is no ‘prize’ to be won. Instead recipients must fulfill contractual obligations to serve as spokesperson for the PAC.”
That distinction could prove key in deciding whether Krasner’s claim — that Musk is running what amounts to an illegal lottery in Pennsylvania that also violates state consumer protection laws — should warrant a judge’s order shutting it down.
But the argument Musk’s lawyers advanced in court Monday appeared to run counter to earlier statements by Musk himself and posts made by his PAC on his social media platform, X.
On Oct. 19, for example, one post said: “BREAKING: Elon Musk announces that he will be randomly awarding $1 MILLION every day from now until Election Day to registered Pennsylvania voters who sign America PAC’s petition and surprised a member of the audience as the first winner.”
Musk, in announcing the giveaway at a Harrisburg rally that same day, said: “We’re going to be awarding a million dollars — randomly — to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election.” Though he later added during his speech that winners would be required to serve as spokespersons for the PAC.
Gober acknowledged that Musk used the word “randomly” in his speech. But Gober said that was not meant to suggest that winners’ names would be drawn from a blind pool, as occurs in a lottery or other game of chance — but that the method for choosing winners would be random because it wasn’t going to follow any pre-determined pattern or criteria.
Testifying as a witness later in Monday’s proceeding, Krasner rejected Musk’s claim that the giveaway wasn’t a lottery as “obviously false.”
“Its about the most amazingly disingenuous defense I’ve heard in recent times,” the district attorney said. “Its absurd.”
The hearing comes a week after Krasner first filed his suit and follows an unsuccessful effort by Musk’s attorneys to move the case to federal court. Those delays resulted in Krasner’s attempt to bar Musk from running his contest in Pennsylvania getting it’s first substantial court hearing just a day before Election Day. And it comes as Musk’s PAC said on its website that it plans to issue just one more $1 million award on Tuesday — and that it will go to a registered voter in Michigan.
So even if Krasner succeeds in convincing a city judge that the sweepstakes violates local law, his victory may not prevent any future payouts before polls open for the election.
In any case, Foglietta, the judge, forged ahead with his plan to hear arguments around on the matter Monday morning. Krasner arrived at the City Hall courtroom by 9:30 a.m., flanked by a team of his attorneys.
Musk did not show. In court papers filed Friday afternoon, his attorneys said he “is subject to an incredible number of time commitments that involve careful planning and preclude last-minute changes in the days leading up to a major federal presidential election.”
A top surrogate for Republican nominee Donald Trump, Musk has denied Krasner’s assertions that the giveaway is illegal, casting it as a way to drive up GOP voter registration numbers in states that might decide the election.
Last week, his attorneys also sought to have the case re-classified as a federal matter, saying it didn’t belong in a state courtroom because it concerned a presidential election.
But late Friday, U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert declined to accept oversight of the case, saying that although it is colliding with a federal election, the laws Krasner is seeking to employ against Musk and his PAC are Pennsylvania statutes — making it a matter for a local court to decide.
The case now lands with Foglietta, who has given no indication of how he might rule on Krasner’s request to bar Musk from giving away any more prizes to Pennsylvania voters.
And he did not specify whether he intended to grant or reject a request from Musk’s attorneys that the tech mogul be allowed to skip the proceedings. Musk did not show up last week, and in court papers filed Friday afternoon, his attorneys said he “is subject to an incredible number of time commitments that involve careful planning and preclude last-minute changes in the days leading up to a major federal presidential election.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of winners in Musk’s giveaways. There have been 17 as of Nov. 4.
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