American billionaire Elon Musk’s “Daily Million Dollar Election Lottery” campaign during the 2024 election season once took the nation by storm, but it quickly faced a collective lawsuit from some voters.
These voters filed a lawsuit on November 5, 2024, the day of the US elections, accusing Musk of enticing them to participate in the daily $1 million lottery by signing a petition in support of the US Constitution, alleging fraud. Musk requested the judge to dismiss the lawsuit in January of this year, stating that he did not organize an “illegal” lottery.
However, a federal judge in the United States ruled on Wednesday (August 20) that Musk must face the legal challenge brought by the voters.
Federal District Court Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, Texas, stated in his ruling that Arizona voter Jacqueline McAferty reasonably accused Musk and the “America PAC” of misleading her into providing personal information to participate in the lottery when the 2024 election was nearing its end.
McAferty alleged that Musk and the America PAC induced voters from seven swing states to sign a petition supporting the US Constitution, promising to randomly select a winner of a daily million-dollar prize through a lottery, even though the voters did not actually have a real chance of winning.
She stated that voters who signed the petition were required to provide their name, address, email address, and phone number.
In his statement in January, Musk pointed out that the so-called daily million-dollar winners were “selected to earn” that amount, and the organizers of the event had informed the voters that they would undergo a review to see if they could become spokespersons for the America PAC to receive a $1 million reward. Therefore, he did not consider the money as a lottery prize.
However, the judge pointed out that the plaintiffs’ statements indicated that the defendant “awarded” a million dollars in the event, and this money could have been “won.” The ruling stated: “The plaintiffs have a reasonable basis to rely on these statements to believe that the defendant objectively provided them with an opportunity to participate in a random lottery – even if subjectively the defendant did not intend to do so.”
Regarding Musk’s denial of voter damage claims due to providing contact information, Judge Pitman stated that a political data intermediary expert could testify to the value of this information for swing state voters.
Lawyers for Musk and the America PAC have not commented on the latest ruling.
The case is known as “McAferty v Musk,” with the case number 24-01346 in the Western District Federal Court of Texas, United States.
On the day before the election, a judge in Philadelphia refused to halt Musk’s lottery, citing that the city’s top prosecutor failed to prove it was an illegal lottery.
(Translated and extended from a report by Reuters)