“We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”
Contestable
After being sued for allegedly running an illegal lottery with his $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes, Elon Musk’s lawyer is now claiming that the contest is no contest at all.
As The Guardian and other outlets report, the billionaire’s lawyer claimed in court that despite what Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner says in his lawsuit, Musk is not running an illegal lottery because the “winners” are actually paid “spokespeople.”
“The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance,” Republican lawyer Chris Gober said during the election eve hearing. “We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”
“There is no prize to be won,” the attorney continued, and “instead recipients must fulfill contractual obligations to serve as a spokesperson for [Musk’s political action committee].
Musk was not personally in attendance at the November 5 court date, likely because he’s on the campaign trail for Donald Trump. Had he been there, lawyers on DA Krasner’s side could have asked him what he meant when he claimed the exact opposite of what his own attorneys are now claiming.
“We are going to be awarding $1 million randomly to people who have signed the petition, every day, from now until the election,” Musk said during a Pennsylvania stump speech in October.
The billionaire went on to say during that speech that “all we ask” is for check recipients to become spokespeople for his America PAC — a verbal clause that was not, as the DA’s office pointed out during the hearing, anywhere on the form people filled out to enter the apparently-not-a-contest.
Sweeped Stakes
Along with making a claim that goes against his own client’s words, a spokesperson for DA Krasner’s office said Gober’s defense is a “complete admission of liability” regarding Musk’s alleged violation of consumer protection law, which was also part of the lawsuit.
“We just heard this guy say, my boss, my client, called this ‘random,'” DA spokesman John Summers said during the hearing, per The Guardian. “We promised people that they were going to participate in a random process, but it’s a process where we pre-select people.”
When Krasner took the stand, he said that the two Pennsylvanians who’d won Musk’s millions thought they’d been signing up for a contest — but had instead been signing up to be spokespeople should they “win.”
“That doesn’t sound like a spokesperson contract,” the DA said.
With the election less than a day away, Krasner’s attempts at an injunction to stop Musk’s scheme in Pennsylvania before voting day are probably for naught — but it’s an important reminder nonetheless about the fast-and-loose way the billionaire seems to be handling his first real foray into electioneering.
More on Musk and Trump: Last Time Elon Musk Was on Trump Advisory Panels, He Quit in Disgust When Trump Backed Out of the Paris Agreement
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