Elon Musk’s lawyers admit that “giving away $1 million to voters” was not at all accidental

Elon Musk’s scandalous statement $1 million giveaway Voters who signed a pledge to support the First and Second Amendments weren’t actually getting a random handout at all, and his team acknowledged that.

During a hearing in a Philadelphia courtroom that lasted several hours on Monday, Musk’s lawyer Chris Gobert told the judge that the $1 million was actually a “salary” the rivals earn as representatives of the pro-Trump US PAC. The winners were pre-selected based on their “fitness for service” and their personal history, rather than by pure randomness, which is subject to Philadelphia gaming law. A perfectly good way to argue in your own defense that what you did was not a crime because you lied to your followers in the first place.

Chris Young, another of Musk’s lieutenants, summed up the team’s defense: “An opportunity to earn is different from a chance to win.” Gambling does not require any skill or ability to win and is subject to strict gambling laws. When Musk first announced the prize draw, he bluntly said, “We’re going to give away $1 million at random.” There seemed to be no conditions, no loyalty or “fitness for duty.”

After Musk announced the competition, many people immediately had questions about whether the program was even legal for various reasons. It is illegal to pay anyone to register to vote, but the rules of the contest required participants to be registered voters. At the very least, this plan gave the impression that it was dangling money in front of American citizens to get them to register. Musk has held pro-Trump rallies in swing states, and critics believe the giveaway is a thinly veiled way to bribe swing voters to Trump.

Something of a “Mr. Beast” style contest, the whole charade risks turning politics even further into a popularity contest to see who can go all out and be the most “epic” for attention.

It is reported that the Ministry of Justice warned the American PAC about the hoax, and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office took Musk sued over this.

Philadelphia prosecutor Larry Krasner argued in court today that the so-called giveaway is an illegal lottery under gambling laws and that the American Gaming Board does not sufficiently disclose to participants what information it collects. “They were tricked into getting information,” Krasner said. “It has virtually unlimited uses.” He used other harsh words to criticize Musk, calling the farce a “fraud” and “disingenuous.” Krasner’s team noted that the American PAC forced the winners to sign non-disclosure agreements agreeing not to talk about it. This means that, according to Musk’s team’s logic, the winners should have supported the PAC, but not mentioned that they were tasked with doing so.

Musk’s team defended itself by saying that it was not an illegal lottery, as Krasner thinks, because the “winners” actually had to earn money by working. But in closing arguments, Krasner’s team argued that lying to fans was not a valid defense. “They basically advertised it as a lottery. This is not a defense of “What we said is not true.”

Krasner’s team called the hiring of unnamed representatives “one of the greatest scams of the last 50 years.”

In any case, Musk’s team told the judge that the “prank” would not take place on Tuesday.

This is a developing story and we will update this post as we learn more.