Philadelphia DA sues Elon Musk's America PAC over its $1 million giveaway

The district attorney of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit Monday to halt Elon Musk 's $1 million giveaways as part of his political organization's effort boosting Donald Trump 's presidential campaign.

The suit by Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner is the first legal action to be brought over the America PAC's sweepstakes offering $1 million every day until Nov. 5 to a person in a battleground state who has signed a petition supporting the Constitution.

Krasner's office said the lawsuit, coming just over a week before Election Day, doesn't preclude potential criminal action.

“The Philadelphia District Attorney is charged with protecting the public from public nuisances and unfair trade practices, including illegal lotteries. The DA is also charged with protecting the public from interference with the integrity of elections,” Krasner's office said in a statement published on its website.

A spokesperson for the billionaire tech mogul's America PAC, emailed for comment on the lawsuit and asked if the cash awards would continue, responded with a link to an X post, which showed the latest $1 million winner holding an oversize check.

Before the lawsuit, election law experts raised questions that it violates federal law barring anyone from paying a person to vote or register to vote. The issue, they say, is that winning the award requires contestants to be registered to vote in one of a handful of battleground states. Musk has cast the money as both a prize as well as earnings for work as a spokesperson for the group.

But the lawsuit makes clear that it's not about vote-buying. Instead, the DA says, the case centers on running a lottery.

“This case is very simple because America PAC and Musk are indisputably violating Pennsylvania’s statutory prohibitions against illegal lotteries and deceiving consumers,” the suit says.

It said examples of deception include not providing a complete set of contest rules including odds of winning and details on how winners are selected.

Reflecting the state's importance in the election, both Harris and Trump have made numerous recent visits to Pennsylvania, including Trump’s photo op at a suburban Philadelphia McDonald’s and Harris’ Sunday visit in the city that included stops at a church and a barbershop.

Speaking in Delaware after casting his ballot Monday, President Joe Biden called the giveaway “totally inappropriate.”

Some attending Musk's events have a different view.

Michele Costantino, 64, a retired health care administrator from Elverson, Pennsylvania, said she thought the giveaway was a “good idea.”

“I think he’s playing the same game as the other side,” said Costantino, standing outside Musk’s rally Saturday in Lancaster. “If you need to flash some big money to get people’s attention, I think it’s a good idea.”

Musk's giveaway requires entrants to sign a petition backing the First and Second Amendments of the Constitution and calls for them to serve as spokespeople for the organization as a condition of winning.

The woman awarded the $1 million check that was presented by Musk on stage Saturday in Lancaster declined to comment about it afterward to a reporter, saying she was directed to leave the town hall event before it was over.

Musk, who founded SpaceX and Tesla and owns X, has gone all in on Trump this election, saying he thinks civilization is at stake if he loses. He is undertaking much of the get-out-the-vote effort for Trump through his super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money. He has committed more than $70 million to the super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.

Associated Press writers Colleen Long in Washington and Mark Scolforo in Lancaster, Pa., contributed to this report.

Elon Musk speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Elon Musk speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Elon Musk speaks a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A waitress who was in serious condition after jumping out of a burning hotel at a popular ski resort has succumbed to her injuries, officials and reports said Thursday, becoming the latest victim of tragedy that has shocked the nation and revived concerns over lax safety regulations in the country.

Turkish officials early on Thursday revised the number of deaths from Tuesday’s blaze at the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya, in northwestern Bolu province, from 79 to 78, including Sevval Sahin. The 25-year-old waitress died in the intensive care unit of a hospital late Wednesday. Dozens of others were injured in the blaze.

The government has appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the cause of the fire, which came at the start of a two-week winter break for schools, when hotels in the area are filled to capacity. Authorities have detained 11 people for questioning, including the hotel’s owner, Bolu’s deputy mayor and the acting fire department chief. No charges have been brought yet.

The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has traded accusations of blame with the Bolu municipality, which is controlled by Turkey’s main opposition party.

The blaze, which appeared to have started at the restaurant section on the fourth floor of the wooden-clad hotel and spread quickly through to the upper floors. Guests and staff jumped out of windows to escape smoke and flame-filled rooms or dangled sheets out of windows to lower themselves out.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has stated that the hotel had been inspected in 2021 and 2014, and had a fire safety certificate. Bolu Mayor Tanju Ozcan has claimed that hotels in Kartalkaya are outside his municipality’s jurisdiction and that the hotel’s last fire department certificate dated back to 2007.

Survivor accounts indicate that the hotel’s fire detection system did not function, that there were no sprinklers and that guests were not able to locate the building’s two fire escapes in the smoke-filled corridors. HaberTurk television and other media reports have suggested that the design of the fire escapes ended up spreading the blaze to other floors.

Witnesses have also reported that the firefighters arrived 45 minutes after the fire was first reported.

Sahin, who had started working at the hotel just over a month ago, called her father from a 12th-floor window, asking him for advice on what to do before she leapt out of the building, local media reports said.

The T24 news website quoted Sahin’s cousin, Murat Bakir, as saying her father told her not to jump. The waitress nevertheless threw herself out of the building, no longer able to withstand the smoke and flames, the website said.

Firefighters and emergency teams work after a fire that broke out at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters and emergency teams work on the aftermath of a fire that broke out at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters work at the scene after a fire broke out at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Mert Gokhan Koc/DIA Photo via AP)