Elon Musk will not face charges for election bribery over handouts he gave to voters during Wisconsin’s Supreme Court elections in 2025.
There was much speculation behind the races, with both parties pouring significant sums of money and effort into swinging the outcome. Musk fell under scrutiny when he launched a $1 million per day giveaway to inspire people to vote.
From The Hill:
A Wisconsin state prosecutor declined to charge technology billionaire Elon Musk with election bribery for his $1 million check handouts to voters during the state’s Supreme Court election last year.
In a letter shared Tuesday with The Hill, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke (D) said his office decided against pressing charges since, in the end, “nobody was paid anything of value for voting or promising to vote.”
Musk, the CEO and founder of Tesla and SpaceX, initially announced in March 2025 that he would speak in Wisconsin, with entrance limited to those who had voted in the state’s Supreme Court election.
Musk said on his social platform X he would “personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote.”
About 12 hours later, the post was deleted and replaced with another clarifying entrance was limited to those who signed the petition against “activist judges.” He said the money would be given to “spokesmen” for the petition.
Musk went on to hand out two checks during a campaign rally in Wisconsin.
Gruenke argued the first post could be seen as an offer to pay someone “the possibility of winning a lottery at a town hall by voting,” but could also be seen as giving entry to a free town hall, with the money a “pre-determined payment for people selected as ‘spokesman’ rather than a reward for voting.”
“Under either view, the second post apparently recognized that potential violation and corrected it,” Gruenke wrote.
BREAKING: Elon Musk announces that he will be randomly awarding $1 MILLION every day from now until Election Day to registered Pennsylvania voters who sign America PAC’s petition and surprised a member of the audience as the first winner.
— America (@america) October 20, 2024
SIGN: https://t.co/PgHAgrlTFA pic.twitter.com/qd4ZRNe4z4
Gruenke further stated that he did not “believe that a jury would convict Elon Musk of a crime after considering the intent, the second post, and the fact nothing of value was ever given to anyone for voting for an incident occurring in March of 2025.”
Musk’s America PAC launched the giveaway in mid-October 2024. At a Pennsylvania town hall he announced that voters in seven swing states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendment would be eligible for daily awards until Election Day.
“We are going to be awarding $1 million randomly to people who have signed the petition, every day, from now until the election,” Musk said.
The Justice Department warned the PAC that the program could violate federal prohibitions on paying people to register to vote. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping the giveaway by labeling it an illegal lottery.