What to know about the proposed class action against Elon Musk

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Registered voters who signed up for Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day lottery have filed a class action lawsuit, claiming fraud, Reuters reports.

Filed on Tuesday by Arizona resident Jacqueline McAferty in federal court in Austin, Texas, it has yet to be certified as a viable class action by a court, which must happen before it can proceed.

The suit alleges Musk and his America PAC (Political Organization Committee) falsely induced voters to sign by claiming winners would be chosen winners randomly. However, they were chosen by members of the PAC.

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The Guardian reports that Musk’s attorneys have said the sweepstake results were not random, and that they disclosed that winners were chosen to be spokespeople for the group. McAferty said the defendants profited from the giveaway by driving traffic and attention to Musk’s X social media platform, as well as by collecting personal information that they could sell.

What was Musk promising?

On Oct. 6, Musk first announced that his PAC would pay $47 apiece to swing-state voters who signed a petition agreeing to support the First and Second Amendments (freedom of speech and the right to bear arms). He later boosted this amount to $100 for Pennsylvania voters who referred other voters to sign the petition.

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Then on Oct. 19, he announced he would give $1 million a day to a voter in a swing state, up to the day of the election. But the next day, the PAC said the money was payment for a job, and that winners would be “selected to earn $1M as a spokesperson for America PAC.”

Was it legal?

On Oct, 23, CNN reported that the Justice Department warned Musk that his sweepstakes might violate federal law prohibiting paying people to register to vote.

The language of the petition promised $1 million prizes to people chosen at random for signing the petition. But to sign it, people had to be registered to vote in specific states.

In response to a post claiming Musk was “paying to register Republicans,” Musk said winners “can be from any or no political party and you don’t even have to vote.”

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But he did not address the potential legal problem of only opening the lottery to registered voters. And several experts contacted by CNN pointed out that the fine print on the PAC website noted that only petition signers could win the $1-million prize, and they had to be “registered voters of Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin.”

However, the sweepstakes was allowed to continue after a ruling by a Pennsylvania judge on Monday. It was alleged by the prosecution that the winners are paid spokespeople and not chosen by chance. Judge Angelo Foglietta did not explain his reasoning when he ruled for Musk and his PAC.

What does the class action lawsuit hope to accomplish?

McAferty sued a day after Foglietta denied the request by district attorney, Larry Krasner, to end the giveaway, which Krasner called an illegal lottery. That ruling was largely symbolic because Musk has no plans to give out more money following the election.

Tuesday’s lawsuit seeks at least $5 million in damages for everyone who signed.

How much money was Musk giving to the Trump campaign?

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FEC documents released on Oct. 15 showed that Musk had given $75 million to America PAC between July 1 and Oct. 1. Also on Oct. 15, he made another donation that brought his total to $118.6 million, Wired magazine reported.

What’s next for Musk?

America PAC “is going to keep going after this election, and prepare for the midterms and any intermediate elections,” Musk said during a livestream on X on the day of the election, according to the Washington Post. In the next round of races for the House, the Senate and even some local offices, he said it “is going to aim to weigh in heavily.”

Musk also tweeted his excitement about working with Trump on a commission to slash government spending by as much as $2 trillion, likely by cutting large numbers of federal workers.

For his part, Trump said during his victory speech early Wednesday: “We have a new star. A star is born — Elon!”

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