Elon Musk must face allegations that he defrauded voters when he promised them a chance to win US$1 million ($1.29 million) for signing a petition in the days before the 2024 presidential election.
A federal judge said Wednesday a woman from Arizona can proceed with her claims that she never would have signed Musk’s America PAC petition and handed over personal identifying information if she knew she had no chance of winning.
She said she believed, based on statements by Musk, that the winners would be picked at random. In fact, they were carefully selected to be spokespeople for Musk’s pro-Donald Trump political action committee.
US District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, Texas, didn’t rule on the merits of Jacqueline McAferty’s proposed class-action case, but found that she plausibly alleged she didn’t get “what she bargained for — a random chance to win US$1 million”.
The district attorney in Philadelphia sued Musk and the PAC about a week before the November election to shut down the sweepstakes as an “unlawful lottery,” but a judge denied the DA’s request to halt the contest. Musk’s representatives revealed at the time that the PAC picked registered voters from swing states to be public spokespeople for the committee, often based on their personal stories, and required them to sign employment contracts.
In addition to seeking damages for fraud, McAferty can also pursue a breach of contract claim, Pitman said. The judge dismissed her claim under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
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Lawyers for Musk didn’t immediately respond outside regular business hours to requests for comment.
Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars to elect Trump and Republicans in 2024, and when Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the election, he turned to Musk, the world’s richest person, to lead an effort to slash the size and scope of government.
