Philadelphia DA Sues Musk, PAC for $1M Petition Giveaway

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner's lawsuit alleges Elon Musk and America PAC are operating an "illegal lottery" by randomly awarding $1 million to registered voters who sign a petition.

The Details: Krasner's suit argued that the giveaway qualified as a lottery under Pennsylvania law, but America PAC had not complied with requirements to publish selection rules and protect privacy. It also questions whether the winner is truly chosen at random, since “multiple winners that have been selected are individuals who have shown up at Trump rallies in Pennsylvania.”

Key Quotes:

• Krasner wrote in the lawsuit, "This case is very simple because America PAC and Musk are indisputably violating Pennsylvania’s statutory prohibitions against illegal lotteries and deceiving consumers... America PAC and Musk must be stopped, immediately, before the upcoming Presidential Election on Nov. 5."
• A Trump surrogate responded, "This is par for the course for the corrupt DA of Philadelphia. DA Krasner has been the weakest DA the city of Philadelphia has ever had... This is a last ditch effort that I guarantee was in coordination with the Harris campaign."

How the Media Covered It: Many left and center outlets headlined the story on their home pages and included Musk's other multimillion-dollar efforts to boost Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Sources on the right mostly stuck to the immediate facts and didn't highlight the story as prominently, though One America News Network (Right bias) defended Musk and America PAC, pointing out that Tufts University and the makers of Cards Against Humanity both offered people monetary rewards for using their social networks to advocate voting for Kamala Harris.