Elon Musk is sued over $1 million election giveaway

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Elon Musk was sued in a proposed class action on Tuesday by registered voters who signed his petition to support the Constitution for a chance to win his $1 million-a-day giveaway, and now claim it was a fraud.

The complaint filed by Arizona resident Jacqueline McAferty in the Austin, Texas federal court said Musk and his America PAC organization falsely induced voters to sign by claiming they would choose winners randomly, though they were predetermined.

She also said the defendants profited from the giveaway by driving traffic and attention to Musk's X social media platform, and by collecting personal information such as her name, address and phone number that they could sell.

A lawyer for Musk and lawyers for McAferty did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint.

McAferty sued one day after a Philadelphia judge denied a request by that city's district attorney Larry Krasner to end the giveaway, which Krasner called an illegal lottery.

That ruling was largely symbolic because Musk has no plans to give out more money following the U.S. presidential election.

The world's richest person opened the giveaway to voters in seven battleground states who signed a petition to support free speech and gun rights. Tuesday's lawsuit seeks at least $5 million in damages for everyone who signed.

Musk is a Texas resident and his electric car company Tesla is based in Austin.

He has supported Republican Donald Trump in the presidential race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

The case is McAferty v Musk et al, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, No. 24-01346.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)