Tech billionaire Elon Musk must face a lawsuit over allegations that his political action committee committed fraud by telling voters they had a chance to randomly win $1 million despite the winners being predetermined.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ruled against Musk’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit by Jacqueline McAferty of Arizona that accuses him and his super PAC of fraud and breach of contract. Pitman will allow claims of fraud and breach of contract to move forward, but dismissed McAferty’s claim that Musk violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Lawyers representing Musk and his super PAC did not immediately return a request for comment. McAferty is being represented by Texas lawyer Tom Kherkher, who applauded the judge’s ruling.
“This ruling is the first step to vindicating our belief that voters across key battleground states never participated in a ‘random giveaway,’ but rather a scheme to harvest personal data under false pretenses,” Kherkher said in a statement to HuffPost.
Musk was hit with several class-action lawsuits in November after his committee, America PAC, promised battleground state supporters of President Donald Trump a chance of winning $1 million. For a chance to win the money ― which Musk falsely claimed would be randomized ― voters like McAferty had to give away their personal identifying information and sign an online petition in “support of free speech and the right to bear arms.”
