Austin, Texas – Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower on Thursday ordered tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to testify under oath about his $1 million-a-day election giveaway.
Musk would be testifying in two proposed class-action lawsuits that accuse him of misleading voters during the 2024 presidential election by encouraging them to sign a petition with the chance of being “randomly” selected to win $1 million.
Arizona residents Joy Harvick and Jacqueline McAferty claim that Musk’s America PAC – which he created to support President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign – hadn’t selected the winners by chance.
As a result, those who had signed the petition had no real shot at winning the $1 million-a-day prize. Instead, winners were chosen because Musk and America PAC thought they would be good spokespeople.
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Hightower ordered Musk to appear for testimony and recommended that he and America PAC face claims they tricked voters into providing personal information.
She said Musk might have acted recklessly by claiming the winners would be chosen at random. Additionally, Hightower quoted America PAC Director Christopher Young, who testified in 2026 that he was “surprised” by Musk’s behavior during the election.
“It was not the way that we had – you know, with legal counsel and consultation – discussed the program and how it would run,” Young said.
“If all he was doing was paying people to sign the petition, that might be a waste of money,” University of California, Los Angeles Law School professor Rick Hasen told the Associated Press in 2024. “But there’s nothing illegal about it.”
“The problem is that the only people eligible to participate in this giveaway are the people who are registered to vote. And that makes it illegal.”
