The billionaire launched a daily lottery on October 19 to reward a voter in a key state who signed his pro-Trump petition. But he had assured that the draw was random.
New twist for Elon Musk and his electoral lottery. According to a lawyer for the billionaire, Elon Musk’s pro-Trump group doesn’t randomly pick winners of his $1 million-a-day gift. to registered voters, but instead selects people who would be good spokespeople for his program, argues Associated Press.
Chris Gober, the Tesla CEO’s lawyer, tried to persuade a judge to… Pennsylvania that the contest was not a “illegal lottery”as claimed by Lawrence Krasner, attorney for Philadelphiain a lawsuit aimed at blocking the contest ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election.
“There are no prizes to be won, but recipients must fulfill contractual obligations as spokespeople for the PAC.”said the lawyer at the hearing, referring to Elon Musk’s political action committee, known as America PAC. The hearing, held in one of the Swing Statesis taking place on the eve of voting day, Tuesday November 5.
Public supporter of Donald Trump, the CEO of Tesla is promoting the former president on its X social media platform. Since October 19, he has been delivering a check for $1 million every day to a registered voter in one of the seven states expected to decide the election (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) who has signed his petition in support of free speech and gun rights. Larry Kasner, a Democratic prosecutor, then sued Elon Musk and his political action committee to try to block the contest, which he called an illegal lottery.
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During the hearing on Monday, a clip was shown. In it, those present could see Elon Musk speaking a Donald Trump rally on October 19, saying that America PAC would award “at random” a million dollars to people who sign the petition. In the video, Mr. Musk stated that “all (he) asked for”was for the winners to serve as America PAC’s spokespeople. John Summers, an aide to Lawrence Krasner, called Chris Gober’s comments “the most important thing I’ve ever heard.“a complete admission of responsibility.”. “We just heard (Chris Gober) say that (his)boss had called this lottery of chancehe said. They promised people they were going to participate in a random process, but this is a process where people are pre-selected.”
PAC boss Chris Young said he was surprised to hear Elon Musk call the draw random at the gathering on October 19. He said applicants appear in videos and give the PAC permission to use their images, and that he personally selects the winners after reviewing their social networks and meeting them outside the event venue, where they are brought on stage to receive checks.
He also acknowledged that the winners had signed non-disclosure agreements preventing them from talking about the terms of the contracts. “They couldn’t reveal the truth about how they got the money, could they?“John Summers asked. “That’s right.”Chris Young replied. The richest man in the world’s lottery falls into a gray area of U.S. election law, and legal experts are divided over whether Elon Musk violated federal law.