The Justice Department warned Elon Musk that his $1 million giveaway could come with a prison sentence—and it appears he’s actually paying attention.
After receiving a warning from the Justice Department, Elon Musk has stopped his $1 million giveaway to swing voters from his super PAC.
The tech CEO pledged Saturday to give away the hefty sum each day to one registered voter in a battleground state who signed America PAC’s pro–First and Second Amendment pledge. Every day since then, a winner has been announced: three Pennsylvania voters and one North Carolina voter.
However, the move immediately raised legal questions, as it’s a federal crime to pay someone to register to vote, punishable by a fine of $10,000, five years in prison, or both. Experts were divided, with Musk’s plan falling into a legal gray area at best. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro called the move “deeply concerning,” and author Stephen King accused Musk of “paying to register Republicans.”
He awarded two more $1M prizes after a pause on Wednesday
if it’s illegal, just sue his ass already. you dont send warning to ordianry people who breaches the law right? at this point i have to say i’ll be happy if musk would continue the lottery, slapping a giant F word in the DOJ’s face.
Got any more of them “warnings” for regular people?
“Oh no. I got all the benefits I was after and now I can skip out on paying people a million dollars a day and blame the Democrat’s for not doing it. Wah”
I don’t want to rock the boat or anything, but does anybody else think that maybe we need just a tiny bit of judicial reform? It seems to me like there’s an awful lot of people doing an awful lot of criming and our judicial system is apparently not that interested about stopping them until after the next election. And there’s always a next election.
So far.
- Try crime
- Benefit from crime
- Receive stern letter
- Pause crime
- Enjoy benefits from period of crime
- Repeat
This guy knows what he’s talking about. He’s an evil bit!
I’m starting to think that money in politics is a problem…
Oh, gee. Why’s that?
Eh…gut feeling.
What chaps my hide is that this is just a warning and not outright a clear case of election interference. I’m tired of warnings instead of judgments. Less likely to see these stories if people actually faced consequences for their actions.
If I did it I’d be in jail already. The rules are different when you’re rich.
If by reform you mean we need to just get rid of people who are too wealthy to get away with crime, then yes… Any measure to accomplish this is acceptable by me
Absolutely goddamn tax them out of existence. Yesterday.
Tax, is that a euphemism for guillotine?
Guillotines were considered somewhat painless, I am far more malicious. Get a length of rope and a shitty executioner, I want em to suffocate.
$10,000 fine on a $1,000,000 lottery is just a 1% tax. I’m surprised he even bothered to notice.
It was probably the 5 years in prison part that he cares about
If he stops it now, he’s not going to see prison or pay a dime…
Even if he doesn’t stop it now, he’s not going to see prison or pay a dime…
I’d even say the government is gonna give him some more money
Of course. If they don’t the communists win.
I’m assuming there’s an additional risk of having to step down from any company he owns with federal contracts as well.
Deport him back to SA
I’d like to see him get arrested and then see how scared he is. This warning seems like the same strongly-worded letter all these rich assholes get.
He’s rich! Nothing is going to happen.