FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
A federal judge refused to throw out a fraud lawsuit accusing Elon Musk of rigging a $1 million voter payout he publicly promised would be random.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin denied the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's bid Tuesday to have the case thrown out before trial — a motion called summary judgment — on the fraud claim, according to his order filed Monday.
The ruling allows an Arizona voter's proposed class action lawsuit, which could represent more than 1 million petition signers, to move toward trial.
Musk launched the daily giveaway at an October 2024 rally in Pennsylvania, telling the crowd he would pay $1 million every day to registered voters in swing states who signed America PAC's petition supporting free speech and gun rights.
America PAC, the super PAC Musk founded to support President Donald Trump's 2024 presidential run, amplified the promise on X within hours of the rally.
"We're gonna be awarding a million dollars, randomly, every day from now until the election," Musk said at the event, according to the America PAC post.
But days before the Texas lawsuit was filed, Musk's own lawyer admitted in a Philadelphia court that the winners were not chosen at random.
"The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance," the lawyer told a Philadelphia judge on Nov. 4, 2024, according to the complaint. "We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow."
Pitman was unpersuaded by Musk's argument that the word "randomly" was too vague to be proven true or false.
"This argument warrants little analysis," the order said.
"A jury could surely conclude that America PAC's process of reviewing a 'vetting document' to make the 'best selection of someone who ideologically aligned with America PAC' — which included 'everything from criminal background history to age, marital status, children' and social media content — was far from random," Pitman wrote.
The order also found that Musk himself was deeply involved in the program, undercutting his claim that he did not know the selection was not random.
Musk "participated in high-level discussions about establishing America PAC" and "participated in high-level discussions with Young and certain America PAC independent contractors about America PAC's projects," the order said.
The Texas ruling is the latest in a string of legal setbacks for Musk over the giveaways.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5-1 in July to refer Musk to a local prosecutor for possible election bribery charges over similar cash giveaways during Wisconsin's April 2025 Supreme Court race, CBS News reported.
A jury trial is currently scheduled for July 6, 2027.