Elon Musk settles fraud lawsuits over his $1 million giveaways to 2024 election voters

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Tech billionaire and Republican megadonor Elon Musk on Thursday settled the two remaining lawsuits stemming from his $1 million giveaways to voters during the 2024 election, according to court filings, bringing a two-year legal saga to an end.

During the final stretch of the 2024 presidential race, Musk’s super PAC started a daily $1 million giveaway to registered voters in battleground states, while Musk was urging voters to support Donald Trump.

After the election, voters in a handful of battleground states filed proposed class-action civil fraud lawsuits against Musk and his political group, America PAC, which both deny wrongdoing. The voters claimed Musk duped them into believing that they’d have a fair shot at the money if they signed up for the sweepstakes — which included turning over their private data to his political organization.

Musk had publicly stated that the payouts would be given away “randomly” to registered voters. But his lawyers later conceded in court that winners were “not chosen by chance” but rather were picked based on whether they would be a strong spokesperson for the pro-Trump super PAC.

In court filings from the two separate cases on Thursday, lawyers for Musk and for the voters said they had settled the litigation. The filings did not describe the terms of the settlements.

CNN has requested comment from Musk spokesman and the lawyers representing the voters who sued him for comment.

This year, Musk has reprised his role as a Republican megadonor — with at least $276 million in donations to GOP candidates for the midterm elections. He has also continued to be one of the leading promoters of election-related disinformation, as he was in 2024 .

The Justice Department warned Musk back in 2024 that the million-dollar giveaways could violate longstanding federal laws against vote-buying.

The Philadelphia District Attorney filed a lawsuit to shut down the sweepstakes while it was still happening, but a state judge ruled on the eve of Election Day that it could proceed.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Election Commission concluded earlier this year that Musk likely broke state law with the cash giveaways.

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据法庭文件显示，科技亿万富翁、共和党超级捐款人埃隆·马斯克周四与两起因他在2024年大选期间向选民捐赠100万美元而引发的诉讼达成和解，结束了长达两年的法律纠纷。

在 2024 年总统竞选的最后阶段，马斯克的超级政治行动委员会开始每天向摇摆州的注册选民赠送 100 万美元，与此同时，马斯克敦促选民支持唐纳德·特朗普。

选举结束后，几个关键州的选民对马斯克及其政治团体“美国政治行动委员会”（America PAC）提起了拟议的集体诉讼，指控其存在欺诈行为。马斯克和“美国政治行动委员会”均否认有任何不当行为。选民们声称，马斯克欺骗他们，让他们相信只要注册参加抽奖活动就能公平地赢得奖金——而注册过程包括将他们的个人数据交给马斯克的政治组织。

马斯克曾公开表示，奖金将“随机”发放给已登记的选民。但他的律师后来在法庭上承认，获奖者并非“随机选出”，而是根据他们是否能成为支持特朗普的超级政治行动委员会的有力代言人来挑选的。

周四提交的两份法庭文件中，马斯克的律师和选民的律师均表示已达成和解。但文件并未透露和解条款的具体内容。

CNN已向马斯克的发言人和起诉他的选民的律师请求置评。

今年，马斯克再次扮演了共和党超级捐款人的角色——至少向共和党候选人捐赠了2.76亿美元，用于中期选举。他还像2024年一样，继续成为选举相关虚假信息的主要传播者之一。

美国司法部早在 2024 年就警告马斯克，这些价值百万美元的赠款可能违反了长期以来禁止贿选的联邦法律。

费城地方检察官提起诉讼，要求在抽奖活动进行期间将其叫停，但州法官在选举日前夕裁定抽奖活动可以继续进行。

今年早些时候，由两党组成的威斯康星州选举委员会得出结论，马斯克发放现金的行为可能违反了州法律。