A judge in Philadelphia has turned down District Attorney Larry Krasner’s request to stop billionaire Elon Musk from giving away $1 million to registered voters in swing states every day.

Judge Angelo Foglietta turned down the DA’s request to stop the prizes right away after Musk’s lawyer said the winners were not picked at random, Krasner’s claim that the freebies were like an illegal lottery.

“The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance. We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow,” attorney Chris Gober told the court, according to the Associated Press.

Chris Young, the head of Musk’s America PAC, said in court that the prize winners were carefully chosen so that the PAC could “feel out their personality” and make sure they had values that were similar to theirs.

Musk’s lawyers also said that people who win the $1 million prizes are paid to talk about America PAC, and that stopping the giveaways would break their “core political speech.” The team of CEOs of Tesla and X also said that Krasner’s work was pointless because no other Pennsylvanians would be chosen before Election Day, when the giveaway stops.

He has been giving away $16 million to people who have signed his petition in support of free speech and the right to bear arms since October 19.

Signatories must also be registered to vote in one of the seven states that will decide the election: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin. People who sign must also be qualified to win the seven-figure prize.

Amid the revelation that winners were not being randomly drawn, Krasner derided Musk’s program as a “grift.”

“This was all a political marketing masquerading as a lottery. That’s what it is. A grift. They were scammed for their information. It has almost unlimited use,” the DA said

Musk, who has endorsed former President Donald Trump, is expected to reveal the final prize winner on Election Day.

Musk has made a huge donation to a political organization aligned with Trump, officially making him a Republican “megadonor.”

Musk gave $75 million to a superPAC he set up over the past three months, according to election-related financial disclosures, Reuters reported.

America PAC, which aims to mobilize voters in closely contested states that could determine the election outcome, spent approximately $72 million during the July-September period, according to disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission.

This amount surpasses that of any other pro-Trump super PAC focused on voter turnout. The Trump campaign heavily relies on outside groups for voter canvassing, meaning the super PAC founded by Musk—the world’s richest man—plays a significant role in the tightly contested election between Trump and Democrat nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Reuters noted further.

Musk, the CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla, was the only donor to the group during that period.

Although Musk has stated that he has voted for Democratic presidential candidates in the past, he has made a notable shift to the right in this election cycle. He endorsed Trump in July and joined him at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month, the outlet noted.

On Wednesday, Musk announced in a post on X that he will be “giving a series of talks” across Pennsylvania, just under two weeks after his appearance with Trump in the state.

He mentioned that people only need to sign a petition on his America PAC website to attend his talks, scheduled from “tomorrow night through Monday.”

Last week, Reuters reported, citing a source, that Musk plans to ramp up his campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania, which is viewed as a critical state for both Trump and his Democratic opponent, Harris, in the race for the White House.

Musk’s contributions to America PAC elevate him to the ranks of Republican mega-donors, a group that also includes banking heir Timothy Mellon and casino billionaire Miriam Adelson. However, Reuters revealed earlier this month that Musk had been secretly funding a conservative political group for years, long before his public support for Trump.

Advertisement
America PAC aims to motivate Americans who support Trump but do not always vote to participate in this election cycle, employing a high-risk, labor-intensive strategy for the Trump campaign, noted Reuters.

The group, which began its efforts later than other PACs in the election cycle, has faced challenges with hiring and its contractors. Since July, it has terminated two major contractors hired to canvass neighborhoods.

Additionally, it has struggled to recruit doorknockers in several battleground states, partly because many other canvassing groups had already staffed up by the time America PAC became operational, according to half a dozen sources briefed on the matter, as reported by Reuters.

According to the filings, the group had about $4 million in its funds left over by the end of September.

Reuters said that different filings showed that casino mogul Miriam Adelson gave $95 million to the pro-Trump super PAC Preserve America PAC during the same period.