Elon Musk has no shame about throwing around money to get what he wants. Or at least, he has no problem making big promises about it. During the 2024 election season, Musk pledged to pay swing-state voters if they signed a petition supporting his pro-Trump PAC. But now, some signees say Musk never actually doled out the money, and they are suing him for millions.
Musk’s America PAC promised $47 to start and $100 later to registered swing-state voters if they signed a petition ostensibly supporting the First and Second Amendment. He also offered referral bonuses if they got someone else to sign. But a class action lawsuit filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania says that Musk has “failed to pay Plaintiffs and Class Members in full for their signatures and referrals.”
The case’s three lead plaintiffs lived in Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Georgia at the time. One also worked as a canvasser for America PAC in Michigan and Georgia. Plaintiffs say that they’ve connected “with numerous others who referred voters to sign the America PAC petition, who are likewise frustrated that they did not receive full payments for their referrals.” The group believes there are “more than 100 class members” in the lawsuit whose payments are “expected to exceed $5,000,000.”
This comes shortly after a Pennsylvania man filed his own lawsuit and petitioned for it to be considered a class action. Shannon Liss-Riordan, co-founder of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, the firm representing the class action lawsuit, told CNBC, “This case is about a broken promise: Elon Musk promised supporters that they would be paid for signing a petition and referring others to do the same.”
“Our clients relied on that promise because they believed in Elon, but unfortunately, that promise was not kept,” she continued. “It appears the promise was broken for many others as well.”
During last year’s election season, Musk spent $277 million backing Republican candidates like Trump. Per CNBC, the majority of that money was filtered through America PAC, where Musk contributed $239 million. In October, Musk took his petition a step further by announcing a $1 million daily giveaway to registered voters in swing states, stating, “We want to try to get over a million, maybe 2 million voters in the battleground states to sign the petition in support of the First and Second Amendment.”
The giveaway prompted immediate concern with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro saying, “When you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions.” Per the Washington Post, the Department of Justice warned Musk that his giveaway may be illegal. In addition, the outlet reported that former Republican lawmakers, advisers, and Justice Department officials urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate whether it qualified as “prohibited payments for voter registration.”
“We are aware of nothing like this in modern political history,” they wrote in a letter. “We recognize that they are framed as payments for signing a petition, or for referring voters who sign. But many of the payments are restricted to registered voters, so anyone who wishes to get paid must register first.”
In a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, advocacy group Public Citizen wrote that the giveaway’s purpose “appears to be to motivate voter registration and voting at the polls by those sympathetic with the candidacy of Donald Trump in the key swing states”. Philadelphia District Attorney General Larry Krasner also filed a lawsuit to shut down what he described as an “illegal lottery scheme”. But by that point, America PAC had reframed the giveaway as payment for being a spokesperson. During a hearing, Musk’s lawyer, Chris Gober, also testified that recipients “are not chosen by chance” and America PAC’s director, Chris Young, said they are vetted to “feel out their personality, (and) make sure they were someone whose values aligned” with the organization.
Right before the presidential election, a Pennsylvania judge ruled that the giveaways were A-Okay, which set a dangerous precedent. In March, Musk re-used the tactic in Wisconsin during the state Supreme Court race by announcing plans to distribute two $1 million checks at an event. Entrance was limited to people who had already voted. At the time, Musk’s own chatbot, Grok, said, “Though aimed at boosting participation, this could be seen as election bribery.”
Despite Wisconsin’s Attorney General’s attempts to stop Musk’s charade, it was allowed to continue. So, you can probably count on Musk to pull this giveaway stunt again. Ironically, though, Musk also offered Wisconsin voters $100 to sign a petition opposing “activist judges.” We’ll see how their pockets are doing in another year.