Musk, sued by Trump’s voters
America Pac, the political action committee funded by billionaire Elon Musk to support the re -election of former US President Donald Trump, arrives before the court. The group is accused of not respected his promise to pay voters in indecisive states who signed a pro-Trump petition before the 2024 elections and who urged others to do the same.
The case, a proposed national collective action, was filed last week at a federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a state considered essential for Donald Trump’s effort to return to the White House.
A similar case was filed in April and only applies to residents in Pennsylvania.
The main plaintiffs are three people who participated in the America Pac initiative while living in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia. One of them officially worked as an electoral agent for America Pac in Michigan and Georgia, the complaint is shown.
In his efforts to propel Trump to victory, Musk spent about $ 300 million, participating in rallies and online for his favorite candidate. Musk, the richest person in the world, had offered payments-initially $ 47 and later $ 100-to those who signed a petition that supported his pro-Trump PAC. Additional payments were offered for every eligible person he recommended and who signed the petition.
Musk said the petitions showed support for the first amendment and the second amendment. The PAC considers the prizes as a way to stimulate the registration and presence in the undetected states.
The complaint says that the applicants are « in communication with many others who have recommended voters to sign the petition of America PAC, who are also frustrated that they have not received full payments for their recommendations. » The group, represented by Lichten & Liss-Riordan law firm, is expected to be « over 100 members of the group », the payments due being « expected to exceed $ 5,000,000 », the file shows.
« This case is about a violated promise: Elon Musk promised the supporters that they will be paid for signing a petition and for the recommendation of others to do the same, » said Shannon Liss-Riordan, co-founder, in an e-mail. « Our customers relied on this promise because they believed in Elon, but unfortunately this promise was not respected. It seems that the promise was violated for many others. »
In October, as the day of election was approaching, Musk and his committee began to provide prizes similar to the $ 1 million per day to the registered voters of the indecisive states. The scheme has raised legal concerns, the legislators asking the justice department to investigate the initiatives for possible violations of the electoral law.
A spokesman of America Pac did not respond immediately to a comment request. Musk also did not respond immediately to a comment request.
America Pac told CNN last month, about a related process, that the group « is committed to paying for each legitimate petition, which is demonstrated by the fact that we have paid tens of millions of dollars to recruitment organizations for their hard work. »
Lichten & Liss-Riordan represents over 2,000 former Twitter employees in a variety of processes and arbitration against Musk’s social media business, which is now part of Xai. The employees worked for Twitter during the company’s purchase by Musk in 2022 and were tempted to remain with compensatory payment offers, but they said they did not receive the promised payments.
