A Texas federal court has rejected Elon Musk’s attempt to dismiss fraud allegations stemming from his controversial pre-election petition drive that promised daily $1 million prizes to participants.
Judge Robert Pitman ruled Wednesday that plaintiff Jacqueline McAferty presented sufficient evidence that the billionaire and his America PAC may have deceived voters about the nature of their sweepstakes program.
The Arizona resident claims she provided personal data, believing she had entered a legitimate lottery, when court testimony later revealed that recipients were actually pre-selected as paid spokespeople for the political organization.
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Starting October 19, 2024, Musk’s committee collected signatures from swing-state voters on a petition supporting constitutional rights, while promoting what appeared to be random daily drawings for million-dollar prizes through Election Day.
Legal documents show that over one million people participated across seven competitive states, surrendering contact information that the court found had monetary value as verified voter data.
The case advances despite Musk’s legal team arguing that promotional language around “awarding” and “winning” prizes was not misleading, given that recipients did receive payment through spokesperson contracts.
Pitman’s decision allows the proposed class action to proceed to discovery, potentially exposing internal communications about how the program operated and whether organizers intended to deceive participants about their chances.
The ruling is the second time this week that a federal judge has rejected Musk’s attempts to dismiss fraud allegations, following a California court’s decision Tuesday to allow Tesla drivers to pursue claims over unfulfilled self-driving promises.
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