Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk could face criminal prosecution in Wisconsin after the state’s elections commission found probable cause that his $1 million cash giveaways to voters during the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election may have violated election bribery laws.
The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5-1 in a closed session to refer two complaints to the Brown County District Attorney’s Office for possible criminal prosecution.
The complaints alleged that Musk offered financial incentives to encourage voter participation in the closely contested Supreme Court election.
According to a motion approved by the commission, Musk likely violated Wisconsin election law by posting on social media that he would give one million dollars to individuals who voted in the April 2025 Supreme Court election.
Under Wisconsin law, prosecutors have 40 days to determine whether criminal charges should be filed.
Brown County District Attorney David Lasee has yet to announce whether his office will proceed with the case.
Musk, the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla and founder of SpaceX, invested heavily in support of conservative candidate Brad Schimel during the election, with him and organisations linked to him reportedly spending more than 20 million dollars on the race.
However, Schimel lost to liberal candidate Susan Crawford by 10 percentage points, preserving the liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The election attracted more than 100 million dollars in campaign spending, making it the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history.
The controversy centres on a post Musk made on his social media platform, X, in late March 2025, announcing that he would personally present two one-million-dollar cheques to individuals who had voted in the election.
The post was later deleted.
Musk subsequently clarified that attendance at the event was limited to people who had signed a petition opposing what he described as “activist judges,” and that the recipients would serve as spokespersons for the petition rather than being rewarded for voting.
Despite the clarification, Musk personally presented two one-million-dollar cheques during a rally in Brown County on March 30, just days before the April 1 election.
His political action committee, America PAC, had earlier awarded another one-million-dollar cheque to a Wisconsin voter who signed the petition and also offered registered voters 100 dollars for signing or referring others to sign it.
The referral for possible prosecution comes months after Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul sought to block the cash giveaways through a lawsuit filed before the election.
Kaul argued that the payments amounted to unlawful inducements for voters.
Musk’s lawyers countered that the giveaways were protected political speech under the U.S. Constitution and were intended to promote opposition to activist judges rather than support a particular candidate.
State courts ultimately declined to stop the payments before the election.
Separately, a civil lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign remains pending, seeking to permanently prevent Musk from offering similar cash incentives to Wisconsin voters in future elections.
The watchdog group alleges that the giveaways violated Wisconsin laws governing election bribery and unauthorised lotteries.
Musk’s America PAC had employed a similar strategy during the 2024 U.S. presidential election by awarding one-million-dollar prizes to swing-state voters who signed petitions supporting the First and Second Amendments.
While that initiative was allowed to proceed in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin prosecutors must now determine whether the 2025 cash giveaways amounted to criminal inducement under state law.
