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    • In Elon Musk case, DA calls million gifts ‘graft’
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    In Elon Musk case, DA calls $1 million gifts ‘graft’

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    from Elon Musk Pro-Trump Super PAC choose its winners $1 million gift per day based on who would be good spokespeople for his agenda and not random registered voters, an attorney for the tech billionaire said in court on monday.

    Chris Gober, a lawyer for Musk’s America Political Action Committee, made the argument in an effort to convince a Pennsylvania judge that the giveaway was not an “illegal sweepstakes,” as Philadelphia was. District Attorney Larry Krasner claims in a lawsuit seeking to block the payments before Tuesday’s presidential elections.

    In response, Krasner took the stand to say that the $1 million daily giveaways in the seven swing states expected to decide the election were indeed an illegal lottery. He also told Judge Angelo Foglietta that some Pennsylvania residents were “cheated out of their information” and called the gift an “extortion” aimed at political marketing.

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    At first, Musk, the world’s richest man, described the gifts like a lottery-like systembut he has changed the public message according to legal experts – and, apparently, Department of Justice – raised questions about its legality.

    “There is no prize to be won, instead recipients must fulfill contractual obligations to serve as a spokesperson for the PAC,” Gober said at the hearing.

    Hearing in the key swing state comes just a day before former President Donald TrumpMusk’s favorite candidate, faces the Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris One closely contested race.

    More: Elon Musk sued by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner over $1 million voter lottery

    In recent months, Musk and his political action committee have backed Trump with money, campaign operations and the influence of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that Musk bought for $44 billion in 2022.

    Musk and the PAC have been handing out oversized $1 million checks since October 18. Krasner, a Democrat, sued Musk and his PAC 10 days later, describing the giveaway as an illegal sweepstakes that violates state consumer protection laws.

    In court Monday, an attorney for Krasner’s office, John Summers, said Gober’s comments were a “complete admission of liability.”

    “I just heard this guy say that my boss, my client, called it random,” Summers said. “We promised people they would be in a random process, but it’s a process where we pre-select people.”

    Musk heavily advertised the giveaway and said his offer was limited to registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. America PAC has so far awarded $1 million in prizes to 16 people and said the final prize will be awarded on November 5.

    Musk and his PAC of America he sought to move the case in federal court, but a federal judge on Friday ordered sent back to state court.

    Credit: Reuters

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