By james art The lawsuit by Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner is the first legal action brought against the America PAC Lottery, which is offering one million dollars (£770,000) every day until November 5 to a person in a battleground state who signs a petition in support of The Constitution.
Mr. Krasner’s office said the trial, coming just over a week before Election Day, did not rule out potential criminal action.
“The District Attorney of Philadelphia is charged with protecting the public from violations of public law and unfair business practices, including illegal sweepstakes.
“The prosecutor is also charged with protecting the public from interference with the integrity of elections,” Mr. Krasner’s office said in a statement posted on its website.
A spokesman for the billionaire tech mogul’s America PAC, emailed for comment on the lawsuit and asked if the prize money would continue, responded with a link to X’s post, which showed the latest million-dollar winner holding a giant check.
Mr. Krasner’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the lawsuit, including whether it was forcing Mr. Musk to immediately stop the giveaway or whether the dispute could be resolved before Election Day.
Reflecting the state’s importance in the election, both Kamala Harris and Mr. Trump have made numerous recent visits to Pennsylvania, including Mr. Trump’s photo at a suburban Philadelphia McDonald’s and Ms. Harris’ Sunday visit to the city, which included stops at church and barbershop.
Mr. Musk’s giveaway requires entrants to sign a petition in support of the First and Second Amendments to the Constitution and calls for them to serve as spokespersons for the organization as a condition of winning.
The awards were continued after election law experts raised questions that it violated a federal law prohibiting anyone from paying a person to vote or register to vote.
The catch, they say, is that winning the award requires contestants to be registered to vote in one of a handful of battleground states. Mr. Musk has designated the money as both a reward and a perk for serving as the group’s spokesman.
In his statement announcing the lawsuit, Mr. Krasner characterized the $1 million prize as a “lottery,” which would make it more heavily regulated than if it were a prize or job-related.
Filed in a Pennsylvania court, Mr. Krasner’s suit does not directly apply to the other swing states whose residents are eligible for the million dollars.
Mr Musk, who founded SpaceX and Tesla and owns X, formerly Twitter, has gone all in on Mr Trump for the election, saying he believes civilization is at stake if he loses.
He is undertaking much of the get-out-the-vote effort for Mr. Trump through his super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money.
He has given more than $70m (£54m) to super PACs to help Mr Trump and other Republicans win in November.