The Philadelphia district attorney said Monday he has filed a lawsuit to stop Elon Musk’s $1 million in donations as part of his political organization’s efforts to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
The lawsuit from Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner is the first in connection with America PAC’s sweepstakes, which will award $1 million each day through Nov. 5 to a person in a battleground state who submits a petition supporting the signed the constitution.
Krasner’s office said the lawsuit, filed a little more than a week before Election Day, does not rule out possible criminal action.
“The Philadelphia District Attorney is charged with protecting the public from public nuisances and unfair trade practices, including illegal lotteries. The Attorney General is also charged with protecting the public from interference with the integrity of elections,” Krasner’s office said in a statement posted on its website.
A spokesperson for the billionaire tech mogul’s America PAC responded via email seeking comment on the lawsuit and whether the cash rewards would continue, with a link to an X post in which the recent winner won over $1 million dollar holding an oversized check.
Krasner’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the lawsuit, including whether it will force Musk to stop the gift immediately or whether the dispute can be resolved before Election Day.
Reflecting the state’s importance to the election, both Harris and Trump have made numerous visits to Pennsylvania recently, including Trump’s photo op at a McDonald’s in suburban Philadelphia and Harris’ Sunday visit to the city, which included stops at a church and a Hairdressing salon included.
In a speech in Delaware after Monday’s vote, President Joe Biden called the giveaways “totally inappropriate.”
Some attendees at Musk’s events disagree.
Michele Costantino, 64, a retired health care administrator from Elverson, Pennsylvania, said she thought the raffle was a “good idea.”
“I think he’s playing the same game as the other side,” said Costantino, standing outside Musk’s rally in Lancaster on Saturday. “If you have to spend a lot of money to get people’s attention, I think it’s a good idea.”
She noted that Musk is not running for office himself. “I never heard him say, ‘Here, I’ll give you a million dollars if you vote,'” Costantino said.
Musk’s sweepstakes requires entrants to sign a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments and requires them to serve as a spokesperson for the organization in order to win.
The awards ceremony went ahead after election law experts raised doubts that it violated federal law that prohibits anyone from paying a person money to vote or registering to vote. The problem, they say, is that to win the award, participants must be registered to vote in one of the few battleground states. Musk viewed the money as both a prize and a reward for his work as the group’s spokesperson.
The woman who presented the $1 million check that Musk presented on stage in Lancaster on Saturday declined to comment to a reporter later, saying she had been ordered to leave the civic event before it’s over.
In his statement announcing the lawsuit, Krasner referred to the $1 million prize as a “lottery,” making it more strictly regulated than if it were a prize or a labor award.
Krasner’s lawsuit, filed in a Pennsylvania court, does not directly apply to the other swing states whose residents are eligible for the $1 million.
Musk, who founded SpaceX and Tesla and is the owner of his super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, is leading much of the effort to get Trump elected. He gave more than $70 million to the super PAC to support Trump and other Republicans win in November.
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Associated Press writers Colleen Long in Washington and Mark Scolforo in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
