Judge allows Elon Musk’s $1M voter prize giveaway to continue

A judge has rejected the attempt to stop Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day giveaway to swing state voters in Pennsylvania until the election.

Musk has given away $US16 million to registered swing state voters who signed his petition supporting free speech and gun rights. The giveaway is limited to Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin voters.

Common pleas court Judge Angelo Foglietta did not immediately give a reason for the ruling, which came after Musk’s lawyers said the winners are not chosen by random.

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“There is no prize to be won. Instead, recipients must fulfil contractual obligations to serve as a spokesperson for the Pac,” Musk’s lawyer, Chris Gober, said.

“The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance. We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”

The matter was presented to court after Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner attempted to block the giveaway. He alleged the payouts amounted to an illegal lottery with vaguely defined rules.

A lawyer for Krasner’s office, John Summers, said Gober’s comments were a “complete admission of liability”.

“We just heard this guy say, my boss, my client, called this random,” Summers said. “We promised people that they were going to participate in a random process, but it’s a process where we pre-select people.”

Under questioning from Summers, Krasner said two Pennsylvania residents had been “scammed for their information” and called the giveaway a “grift” aimed at political marketing.

A video was played in court, where Musk said, “all we ask” is for winners to serve as spokespersons for Pac. Documents, however, showed Pennsylvania voters filled out to enter the giveaway never mentioned being a spokesperson.

“That doesn’t sound like a spokesperson contract,” Krasner said.

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania. Whichever candidate wins the state will receive its 19 electoral votes out of a total of 270 needed to win.

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