Elon Musk sued for fraud over his $1 million giveaway to swing state voters

Arizona resident Jacqueline McAferty is suing Elon Musk and his pro-Trump America PAC in a Texas federal court, alleging that the PAC’s $1 million-a-day lottery to registered voters in swing states was fraud. The proposed class-action lawsuit was filed a day after a Philadelphia judge denied the city’s request to order Musk to end the lottery — and seems to have been spurred by Musk’s legal defense in the Philadelphia case.

The complaint, filed in a federal court in Austin, alleges that Musk falsely claimed the PAC would choose sweepstakes winners randomly when the selections were, in fact, predetermined. The complaint cites comments made yesterday by Chris Gober, a Republican lawyer CNBC identified as America PAC’s former treasurer. 

“The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance,” Gober said during the Monday hearing in the Philadelphia case. “We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.” Grober’s testimony contradicted Musk’s own claim that the funds were awarded “randomly,” as he said when he announced the contest at a political rally in Pennsylvania.

McAferty signed the petition on October 20th, the day Musk announced the contest, according to the complaint. Musk “made the false statements with the intention of inducing individuals to sign the America PAC petition,” which was a scheme to obtain users’ data, the complaint alleges. McAferty is accusing Musk of fraud and breach of contract.

To sign the petition, voters had to provide their first and last name, email address, mailing address, and cell phone number. “The America PAC petition places no limitations on America PAC’s use of or sale of the personal data it collects, nor does it provide any additional information about the planned use of data,” the complaint claims.

The suit also claims that Musk used the lottery to drive “significant traffic to Musk’s X platform.”