费城法官允许埃隆·马斯克的美国政治行动委员会继续其百万美元赠品注册的摇摆州选民。
民事诉讼法院法官安吉洛·福格列塔(Angelo Foglietta)驳回了费城地方检察官拉里·克拉斯纳(Larry Krasner)提出的停止免费赠送的禁令请求，免费赠送已经向摇摆州的选民发放了1700万美元。据辩护律师称，美国政治行动委员会计划于周二在密歇根州宣布他们的第18位也是最后一位获奖者。
该决定是在周一近六个小时的听证会后做出的，在此期间，马斯克和美国政治行动委员会的律师透露，尽管马斯克公开表示这是一次“随机”抽奖，但获胜者是预先选定的。
克拉斯纳的一名律师称马斯克的赠送是“过去50年来最大的骗局之一”，他欺骗了100多万摇摆州选民签署请愿书，希望赢得100万美元。
“这个过程没有任何随机性，”律师约翰·萨默斯(John Summers)说。"这是一个深刻的、毁灭性的、广泛的骗局."
萨默斯认为，马斯克试图通过鼓励数十万选民签署请愿书来“影响选举”，同时根据他们担任政治行动委员会发言人的“合适性”预选获胜者。萨默斯认为，即使彩票不是随机的，根据宾夕法尼亚州的法律，它仍然是非法的。
“他们实际上是在宣传这是一次抽奖。萨默斯说:“我们所说的不是真的，这不是一种辩护。
马斯克的美国政治行动委员会的律师安迪·泰勒认为，在今天披露所谓的彩票奖励预选赢家后，地方检察官的案子就不成立了。
“这是一个挣钱的机会。这不是一个获胜的机会，”泰勒说，强调了获胜者作为政治行动委员会发言人的角色。
泰勒强调，该案件的核心是支持第一和第二修正案的请愿书，认为关闭赠品将侵犯言论自由。
“你将扼杀数百万宾夕法尼亚人行使宪法规定的言论自由的权利，”泰勒说。
在法庭外，克拉斯纳的律师拒绝对案件的细节发表评论，只是承认，“这在法官的手中。”
Judge denies Philadelphia DA's request to block Elon Musk's $1 million giveaway
A Philadelphia judge is allowing Elon Musk’s America PAC to continue itsmillion-dollar giveawayto registered swing state voters.
Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta denied Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s request for an injunction to stop the giveaway, which has handed out $17 million to voters across the swing states. According to defense attorneys, America PAC plans to announce their 18th and final prize winner on Tuesday in Michigan.
The decision followed a nearly six-hour hearing Monday, during which an attorney for Musk and America PAC revealed that the winners were preselected despite Musk saying publicly it was a "random" lottery.
A lawyer for Krasner called Musk's giveaway "one of the great scams of the last 50 years" by deceiving more than a million swing state voters to sign a petition in the hopes of winning a million dollars.
"There is nothing random about that process,” the lawyer, John Summers, said. "This was a profound, devastating and widespread deception."
Summers argued that Musk attempted to "influence the election" by encouraging hundreds of thousands of voters to sign a petition while preselecting the winners based on their "suitability" to serve as spokespeople for the political action committee. Summers argued that even if the lottery was not random, it's still illegal under Pennsylvania law.
"They essentially advertised this as a lottery. It’s not a defense that what we said it was isn't true," Summers said.
Andy Taylor, a lawyer for Musk’s America PAC, argued that the DA’s case falls apart after today's revelation that the alleged lottery awarded preselected winners.
"It's an opportunity to earn. It's not a chance to win," Taylor said, emphasizing the winners' roles as spokespeople for the PAC.
Taylor emphasized that the case centers on a petition in support of the First and Second amendments, arguing that shutting down the giveaway would infringe on free speech.
"You are going to smother in the crib the rights of millions of Pennsylvanians from exercising constitutional magnitude free speech," Taylor said.
Speaking outside court, Krasner’s attorney declined to comment on the specifics of the case, simply acknowledging, "It's in the hands of the judge."
