By Luc Cohen
(Reuters) -The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a political action committee controlled by billionaire Elon Musk from awarding $1 million to registered U.S. voters in battleground states ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
The complaint brought by the top prosecutor in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, called the giveaway by Musk’s America PAC, which backs Republican former President Donald Trump, an “illegal lottery” that enticed Pennsylvania residents to share personal data.
Lawrence Krasner, the top prosecutor in Pennsylvania’s largest city, which is a Democratic stronghold, alleged the giveaways violated state consumer protection laws.
“If not enjoined, their lottery scheme will irreparably harm Philadelphians – and others in Pennsylvanians – and tarnish the public’s right to a free and fair election,” the complaint read.
In response to a request for comment, an America PAC spokesperson sent a link to the group’s latest post on X, which was published after news of the lawsuit.
The post identified a Michigan resident who received the $1 million prize, and said additional awards would be handed out every day until the election.
Pennsylvania is one of seven battleground states where the presidential election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, is set to be decided. Whichever candidate wins the state will receive its 19 electoral votes out of a total of 270 needed to win.
The Justice Department has sent a letter to America PAC warning that the billionaire Tesla chief executive’s giveaways for registered voters who sign his free-speech and gun-rights petition may violate federal law, CNN reported last week.
Legal experts consulted by Reuters last week were divided on whether the giveaway violates federal laws that make it a crime to pay or offer to pay a person to register to vote.
The Trump campaign is broadly reliant on outside groups for canvassing voters, meaning the super PAC founded by Musk – the world’s richest man – plays an outsized role in what is expected to be a razor-thin election.
(Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham in Bengaluru, Luc Cohen in New York and Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco; additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Mike Scarcella; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell)