Elon Musk speaks during a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Oct. 27, 2024.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Elon Musk’s America PAC didn’t keep its promise to pay swing state voters who signed a pro-Trump petition ahead of the 2024 election, and who enlisted others to do the same, a new lawsuit alleges.
The case, a proposed national class action suit, was filed within the last week in a federal court in the Eastern district of Pennsylvania, a state that was viewed as critical to Donald Trump’s effort to return to the White House.
A related case was filed in April that only applied to residents of Pennsylvania.
Lead plaintiffs are three people who participated in the America PAC initiative while they were living in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia. One formally worked as a canvasser for America PAC in Michigan and in Georgia, the complaint says.
In his efforts to propel Trump to victory, Musk spent around $300 million while also stumping at rallies and online for his preferred candidate. Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, had offered payments — initially $47 and later $100 — to those who signed a petition supporting his pro-Trump PAC. Additional payments were offered for each eligible person they referred who signed the petition.
Musk said the petitions showed support for the First Amendment and Second Amendment. The PAC viewed the awards as a way to drive voter registration and turnout in swing states.
The complaint says the plaintiffs are “in communication with numerous others who referred voters to sign the America PAC petition, who are likewise frustrated that they did not receive full payments for their referrals.” The group, represented by the law firm Lichten & Liss-Riordan, expects there to be “more than 100 Class Members,” with payments owed them “expected to exceed $5,000,000,” the filing says.
“This case is about a broken promise: Elon Musk promised supporters that they would be paid for signing a petition and referring others to do the same,” Shannon Liss-Riordan, co-founder of the firm, said in an email. “Our clients relied on that promise because they believed in Elon, but unfortunately, that promise was not kept. It appears the promise was broken for many others as well.”
In October, as Election Day neared, Musk and his committee began offering lottery-like awards of $1 million per day to registered voters in swing states who had signed. The scheme raised legal concerns, with lawmakers calling for the Department of Justice to investigate the initiatives for possible violations of election law.
Musk said at a pro-Trump town hall event in Harrisburg Pennsylvania that, “I think think is kind of fun, and you know, it seems like a good use of money basically.”
Following Trump’s victory, Musk was tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with slashing the size of the federal government. In that role, he’s been able to eliminate regulations and cut agency resources in ways that benefit his companies, including Tesla and SpaceX.
A spokesperson for America PAC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Musk also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
America PAC told CNN last month, regarding a related lawsuit, that the group “is committed to paying for every legitimate petition signer, which is evidenced by the fact that we have paid tens of millions of dollars to canvassers for their hard work in support of our mission.”
Lichten & Liss-Riordan represents more than 2,000 former Twitter employees in a variety of suits and in arbitration against Musk’s social media business, now part of xAI. The employees worked for Twitter during Musk’s buyout of the company in 2022, and were enticed to stay with severance payment offers, but said they didn’t receive the promised payments.
Read the national class action lawsuit against America PAC and Elon Musk, here.
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