Wisconsin panel refers Musk election bribery case to prosecutors
Elon Musk faces new legal exposure after a Wisconsin elections panel found probable cause he violated state bribery laws by paying voters, adding to the litigation risks surrounding his political spending.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5-1 on Friday to send two complaints to local prosecutors. The panel found probable cause that Elon Musk violated state election bribery statutes during a recent judicial race.
The commission determined Musk broke the law by posting on X offering $1 million to "individuals who voted in the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court Election in order to induce them to vote." His America PAC awarded $1 million each to two Wisconsin voters in April as part of a broader giveaway tied to a "Petition in Opposition to Activist Judges," with other prizes ranging from $20 to $100.
Musk attempted to reframe the payments by characterizing the recipients as "spokesmen" for his PAC. He adopted this defense after facing intense criticism for initially tying the money directly to voters who had already cast ballots. The exact selection process remains opaque, though America PAC said previous winners were chosen based on their ability to represent the group, and one April recipient, Nicholas Jacobs, is involved in Republican politics.
For investors, the referral compounds the legal overhang surrounding the Tesla chief executive. Musk directed more than $20 million to groups backing conservative candidate Brad Schimel, making it the most expensive judicial election in history. That political push occurred as Tesla filed a separate lawsuit seeking to open dealerships in Wisconsin.
President Donald Trump also campaigned for Schimel, but the candidate lost to liberal Justice Susan M. Crawford by 10 percentage points. The race was widely viewed as an early litmus test for the Trump administration's agenda, which has been driven largely by Musk.
This state-level criminal referral is not the CEO's only legal exposure tied to his electoral giveaways. A judge ordered Musk last month to testify under oath in a class-action lawsuit regarding a similar America PAC payout during the November 2024 presidential election. Voters in that case argue they were defrauded because the PAC admitted it did not choose winners at random.
Furthermore, a separate lawsuit from the liberal firm Law Forward accusing Musk of violating the election bribery law remains pending. That private legal action followed the liberal-leaning state Supreme Court's rejection of a pre-election attempt by Attorney General Josh Kaul to block the $1 million checks.
