PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania state judge on Nov 5 allowed Elon Musk’s $1 million a day (S$1.32 million) grant to entice state voters to continue , after a surprising day of testimony during which the billionaire’s aide admitted that his political group had selected the contest’s candidate. winners.

With a day before the hotly contested US presidential election between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, lawyers for Musk’s America PAC, a pro-Trump super political action committee, sought to persuade Judge Angelo Foglietta that the competition was not an “illegal lottery,” as Philadelphia’s top prosecutor alleged.

Lawyers for America PAC and its director, Chris Young, said the group distributed the funds based on who would be the best spokesperson for its pro-Trump agenda, despite the billionaire’s assertion that winners would be chosen at chance.

Tesla’s chief executive has already gifted $16 million to registered voters in swing states who qualified for the gift by signing his political petition. America PAC announced a winner from Arizona on November 4 and said the final winner, from Michigan, would be announced on Election Day, November 5.

America PAC launched the contest on October 19. It is open to registered voters in seven key battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – who sign a petition pledging support for free speech and gun rights on fire.

On October 28, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit to block the contest in Pennsylvania, alleging that the payments amounted to an illegal lottery with unclear rules. Judge Foglietta rejected Krasner’s offer in a brief written order and said he would explain his reasoning later.

Musk’s attorney, Andy Taylor, accused Krasner’s office of trying to stifle the rights of Pennsylvanians by preventing them from signing the petition.

“They are trying to prevent the citizens of Pennsylvania from signing a petition about free speech and the right to bear arms,” Taylor said during closing arguments.

Musk has become a vocal supporter of Trump in 2024 and has promoted the former president on his social media platform X. He has so far donated nearly $120 million to the America PAC to promote his efforts voter mobilization and registration, according to federal information.

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania, one of seven battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the race between Trump, the Republican, and Harris, the Democratic nominee. Whoever wins the state will receive its 19 electoral votes out of a total of 270 needed to win.

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“One of the biggest scams”

In trying to persuade Judge Foglietta that the giveaway was not an illegal lottery, Musk’s lawyers said the giveaway was not a prize but rather compensation for those chosen to serve as spokespeople for the program pro-Trump America PAC.

Young, the head of America PAC, said he selected the winners from a pool of candidates who appeared in the group’s videos and allowed him to use their images after reviewing their social media and meeting them outside of the event locations.

John Summers, a lawyer in Krasner’s office, said the admissions that the giveaway was not random made it not only an illegal lottery but also a fraud.

“If their story is true,” Summers said in his closing argument, “this is one of the greatest scams of the last 50 years.”

Summers showed the court a clip of Musk at a Trump rally on Oct. 19, saying the America PAC would randomly award $1 million to people who signed the petition. In the video, Musk said that “all we ask” is that the winners be America PAC spokespeople.

Young said he was surprised to hear Musk describe the gift as random at the gathering. He also acknowledged that the winners had signed nondisclosure agreements preventing them from speaking about the terms of the contracts.

The gift falls into a gray area of ​​election law, and legal experts are divided on whether Musk could violate federal laws prohibiting paying people to register to vote.

The U.S. Department of Justice warned America PAC that the giveaway could violate federal law, according to media reports, but federal prosecutors took no public action.

The Trump campaign relies heavily on outside groups to canvass voters, meaning the super PAC founded by Musk, the world’s richest man, is playing an outsized role in what is expected to be a razor-thin election.

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