Has Elon Musk’s cash giveaway broken election fraud laws?

Elon Musk’s $1 million a day giveaway may have violated election and consumer protection laws, a business attorney has said.

The Trump-supporting Tesla billionaire gave $1 million daily to a single voter who signed an online petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.

The petition targeted registered voters in key swing states: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina.

Greg Germain, a business attorney and law professor at Syracuse University in New York, told Newsweek that Musk’s Political Action Committee [PAC], which is entitled ‘America’, may have broken the law.

Newsweek sought email comment from Musk, the America PAC and from the Trump transition team on Monday.

“I think the PAC and its donors are vulnerable to consumer fraud and possibly election fraud claims if they make inconsistent statements about the process, or fail to disclose how the information the PAC receives will be used,” he said.

Those inconsistent claims include an initial statement that the $1 million day winners were chosen and random and then later claiming in court that the winners were pre-selected.

Germain said that a class action lawsuit has already been filed against the America PAC for falsely claiming to pay election workers hourly wages, and then issuing pay only for contacts.

In addition, “a Federal Election Commission complaint has been filed claiming that the PAC is illegally republishing Trump’s campaign ads,” he said.

In addition to the $1 million a day giveaway, Musk’s PAC gave away $47 to everyone who referred another voter to sign the pledge, a sum that rose to $100 per referral in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania.

“Our goal is to get 1 million registered voters in swing states to sign in support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” Elon’s political action committee states on its website.

Musk was a keen Trump supporter during the election and spoken at Trump rallies in support of the former president.

The Musk giveaway continued every day in the lead up to the presidential election.

On October 25, for example, the political action committee announced that “Jason of Holland, Michigan received $1M for signing our petition to support the Constitution.”

A post on X, formerly Twitter, shows Jason, who is identified only by his first name, holding an oversized $1 million check.

Before the November 5 presidential election, the Philadelphia district attorney’s office filed a lawsuit to halt Musk‘s giveaway.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner called the daily giveaway plan from Musk’s America PAC an “illegal lottery” and is intended to reward Trump supporters.

“The Philadelphia DA filed a civil legal action under Pennsylvania law. This civil action neither precludes nor requires potential future action under Pennsylvania criminal law,” the district attorney’s office said on its website.

“The Philadelphia DA will litigate the factual allegations and legal arguments that underlie today’s filing on the record and in court.”

In court documents, the America PAC’s lawyers replied that the $1 million a day giveaway was not a lottery and that the winners were chosen in advance.

Musk has donated over $118 million to the America PAC, which he founded and which backs Trump, according to Federal Election Commission filings. As of September 30, America PAC reportedly spent $133,841,660 to support or oppose 2024 federal candidates, according to the lawsuit.