Elon Musk will now have to answer in court to allegations that he misled voters during the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign with a fake $1 million lottery.
A federal judge in Texas has ruled that a lawsuit filed by Arizona voter Jacqueline McAferty against Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, can proceed.
She alleged that the billionaire and his group lured voters into handing over personal information with false promises of winning a huge cash prize.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin said the complaint “plausibly alleged” that Musk induced voters to provide sensitive data by advertising the so-called lottery. “It is plausible that plaintiff justifiably relied on those statements to believe that defendants were objectively offering her the chance to enter a random lottery—even if that is not what they subjectively intended to do,” Pitman wrote.
McAferty, who filed the proposed class action, said voters in seven battleground states were asked to sign Musk’s petition with the promise that winners would be randomly chosen. Instead, she argued, there was never a real opportunity to win, and participants were only used to build a political data bank. Voters were reportedly required to provide names, addresses, phone numbers, and email details as part of the sign-up.
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Musk, who founded America PAC to back Donald Trump’s White House bid, denied running an illegal lottery. His lawyers said disclaimers made it clear that recipients were “selected to earn” the $1 million as future spokespeople for the group, not as winners of a prize. But Judge Pitman pointed to other language suggesting the money could in fact be “won” and ruled that the lawsuit could not be dismissed at this stage.
Musk had also argued that voters lost nothing by providing contact information. However, the judge said expert testimony could establish the market value of political data harvested from swing states.
The case was filed on Election Day, November 5, 2024, a day after a Philadelphia judge rejected an attempt to halt Musk’s lottery campaign, ruling it was not clearly an illegal scheme under state law.
Lawyers representing Musk and America PAC have yet to respond to the latest court ruling. The case is McAferty v. Musk et al, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, No. 24-01346.
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