The past month has been full of catastrophic shenanigans from Elon Musk. That man is crazy, racist and probably a heavy drug user. He “offers” his sperm to random women and has already taken steps to create a Musk baby-mother compound in Texas. He’s also basically moved to the swing states, spending most of his time in Pennsylvania, where he’s held unhinged rallies and given away $1 million checks to Trumpers. Beyond that, he’s also been kidnapping people in U Haul vans and forcing them to “canvass” for Trump and then not paid them. Oh, and he’s in regular contact with Vladimir Putin. Someone suggested that Musk is this year’s Rudy Giuliani – just sacrificing every part of his life for Donald Trump, who actually despises both Rudy and Elon. Speaking of Elon’s crimes, you know those $1 million checks which were supposed to be given to people chosen at random? Yeah, not so much a lottery as much as it’s a crime.
A lawyer for Elon Musk said in a Philadelphia courtroom Monday that the winners of Musk’s $1 million daily prize giveaway in election swing states are not chosen at random, contradicting what Musk said when he announced the contest last month. Legal experts told NBC News that the disclosure could have legal fallout for Musk across multiple jurisdictions under laws designed to protect consumers from deceptive practices.
“This is absolutely, unambiguously illegal,” Christopher Peterson, a University of Utah law professor who specializes in consumer protection, said in an email. “You cannot lawfully lie to the public about conducting a random sweepstakes, lottery, or contest and then rig the results to hand-select the winners. It really is not complicated. This is just fraud; a simple, ugly fraud on the public.” He said Musk and his super PAC’s behavior could be “both a civil wrong and a crime.”
Musk’s America PAC declined to comment on that analysis or the views of other legal experts. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chris Gober, a lawyer for America PAC, made the disclosure at a hearing about the giveaways. He said that the winners are not chosen by random, as in a lottery drawing, but that the super PAC instead selects the winners based on who it believes would be effective political spokespeople.
The disclosure flew in the face of what Musk said onstage at a Pennsylvania rally on Oct. 19, when he revealed the contest to draw attention to a petition supporting free speech and gun rights. “We’re going to be awarding $1 million randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election,” Musk said, followed by wild applause from the audience.
Yep, it’s a crime and it’s also a massive civil suit just waiting to happen. There will be more plaintiffs too, because a Pennsylvania judge ruled on Monday that Musk’s criminal faux-lottery can continue. District Attorney Larry Krasner had taken Musk to court to get these clear election interence shut down, but Judge Angelo Foglietta is letting it go ahead, possibly because today is Election Day. But I definitely believe that if this election goes the way we need it to go, Musk will be facing criminal charges and many civil lawsuits.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.