Elon Musk's lawyer says $1M giveaway winners not randomly chosen, which could raise legal issues [View all]
Source: NBC News
Nov. 4, 2024, 5:13 PM EST
A lawyer for Elon Musk said in a Philadelphia courtroom Monday that the winners of Musk’s $1 million daily prize giveaway in election swing states are not chosen at random, contradicting what Musk said when he announced the contest last month.
Legal experts told NBC News that the disclosure could have legal fallout for Musk across multiple jurisdictions under laws designed to protect consumers from deceptive practices.
“This is absolutely, unambiguously illegal,” Christopher Peterson, a University of Utah law professor who specializes in consumer protection, said in an email. “You cannot lawfully lie to the public about conducting a random sweepstakes, lottery, or contest and then rig the results to hand-select the winners,” he said. “It really is not complicated. This is just fraud; a simple, ugly fraud on the public.”
He said Musk and his super PAC’s behavior could be “both a civil wrong and a crime.” Musk’s America PAC declined to comment on that analysis or the views of other legal experts. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musks-lawyer-says-1m-winners-arent-randomly-chosen-raise-legal-is-rcna178711
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