Musk Lawyer Says $1 Million Winners Weren’t Picked by Chance
(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk’s lawyer told a Pennsylvania judge that the winners of a million-dollar voter giveaway were chosen “not by chance.”
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The lawyer, Chris Gober, made the surprise admission at a court hearing where the Philadelphia district attorney is trying to stop the contest, saying it’s an illegal lottery. Gober argued, however, that the sweepstakes is not a lottery because the winners were selected on their “suitability” to be a public spokesperson for Musk’s political action committee, often based on their personal stories.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued Musk and the PAC last week, saying the contest illegally lulls “Philadelphia citizens to give up their personal identifying information and make a political pledge in exchange for the chance to win $1 million.”
Musk’s pro-Donald Trump America PAC has been giving away the money every day until Election Day on Nov. 5 to people who sign a petition calling for free speech and the right to bear arms. The winner must be a registered voter in a swing state. The contest doesn’t specify which candidate voters should cast their ballots for.
Chris Young, the PAC’s treasurer, said at the hearing Monday that he was surprised to hear Musk say at a rally last month that the recipients would be chosen at random.
Young said each of the recipients of the $1 million payments are required to sign employment agreements for the PAC. He said they earn the money through that work and are selected based on how many people they referred and other criteria such as their alignment with the program’s values.
“Anyone who participated in the program knew exactly” what was expected of them, Young said.
Gober told Judge Angelo Foglietta that the contest doesn’t meet the definition of a lottery because “there is no prize to be won.” Musk didn’t attend the hearing.
Krasner testified Monday that the contest is nothing more than a “grift.” The Democratic politician denied that the suit was politically motivated.
“I have brought actions against Democrats in the past,” Krasner said, adding that he drove a Tesla. “I would have brought an action against Taylor Swift if she did this.”
While any ruling may foreshadow whether the world’s richest man faces legal problems related to the giveaway, it would likely come too late to make much of a difference in the campaign. Election day is only a day away and it’s unlikely that Foglietta’s decision would apply to any other battleground states.
Krasner said that he will seek unspecified damages if the suit is successful, but insisted that he wouldn’t ask the winners to give the money back.
(Adds more testimony starting in fifth paragraph.)
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