Wisconsin Elections Commission Refers Elon Musk for Criminal Prosecution over His $1 Million Check “Giveaways”
The bipartisan election panel concluded that Elon Musk almost certainly broke the law and referred complaints to the DA's office.
Photo via Getty Images, Scott Olson Splinter Elon Musk
Elon Musk almost certainly broke the law in Wisconsin last year when he touted the “giveaway” of $1 million checks for residents of the state who had voted–that’s the conclusion of the entirely bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, which voted this week to acknowledge that there was “probable cause” that the world’s richest man had violated state election bribery laws. Those laws, which state it is a crime to offer “anything of value” to residents in order to induce them to vote, now form the basis of two criminal complaints that were brought by voters in Milwaukee and Green Bay, in Wisconsin’s Brown County, where Musk presented the checks only days before the state’s election for an open state Supreme Court seat in March of 2025. The complaints have now been referred to the Brown County district attorney’s office, which will have to choose whether or not to bring criminal charges within the next 40 days, but such a choice will require more bipartisanship–Brown County District Attorney David Lasee is a Republican.
Still, that didn’t stop the members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission from being able to see the corruption sitting right in front of their faces. The WEC’s six members are split right down the middle, three Democrats and three Republicans, and still returned a 5-1 vote in closed session to refer the criminal complaints to the DA’s office. That speaks to the gravity of the allegations against Elon Musk, that he attempted to buy off the support of Wisconsin voters for a Republican Supreme Court nominee–an effort that we should add ended up failing spectacularly. Despite Musk and groups linked to him directly spending at least $20 million in support of Republican candidate Brad Schimel, he was still defeated by 10 points by the Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford. Musk subsequently threw up his hands in disgust afterward, saying he was going to curtail his political spending: “I’m going to do a lot less in the future. I think I’ve done enough.” Considering that he went on to become the world’s first trillionaire (at least briefly) in 2026, however, we rather doubt the money wasted in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race stings all that much for him.
AP: Elon Musk likely broke Wisconsin law by promising to hand out $1 million checks to voters in the 2025 state Supreme Court election. The Brown Co. DA will decide whether to bring criminal charges over violating the state law against election bribery.
Yes, please! 💙
#ProudBlue #Pinks #SheShed— LA Blue Dot in GA 🌊🐸 (@namwella1961.bsky.social) 10:00 AM · Jul 15, 2026
What would sting, on the other hand, would be facing criminal charges for his obvious meddling in the democratic process, as unlikely an outcome as that no doubt is. There’s plenty of reason to believe that Musk knew full well that what he was doing was illegal under state law throughout, as both the tech titan and his legal team deployed novel rationalizations for why any of it should be allowed and faced down emergency litigation. Musk even seemed to realize at times that he had overstepped what he could get away with, deleting some of his social media pronouncements and rewording them to seem less blatantly illegal. As Musk initially promised in a now-deleted Twitter post: “On Sunday night, I will give a talk in Wisconsin. Entrance is limited to those who have voted in the Supreme Court election. I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote. This is super important.”
Elon Musk advertises his blatantly corrupt attempt to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court:
— Tom Joscelyn (@tomjoscelyn.bsky.social) 6:47 AM · Mar 28, 2025
Having seemingly realized that “hey, this sounds super, duper illegal,” Musk then switched over to another post saying that entrance to the event was not restricted to those who “voted,” but for those who had “signed the petition in opposition to activist judges,” and that the checks would also be for “two people to be spokesmen for the petition.”
Ironically, this actually gets closer to the truth of the so-called giveaway, which Musk initially claimed would be “randomly” assigned to voters or those who signed the petition. Shockingly, the world’s richest man is actually not in the business of giving millions of dollars away on a “random” basis, and the checks were instead awarded to selected, pre-chosen candidates who signed contracts to effectively act as spokespeople for the petition against “activist judges.” Elon Musk’s lawyers likewise argued that the petition against “activist judges” was not in support of any specific candidate–certainly not the Republican in the race!–but was just a general statement of principal against those dastardly activist judges, whoever they might be. As those attorneys eye-rollingly put it in court filings, the payments were “intended to generate a grassroots movement in opposition to activist judges, not to expressly advocate for or against any candidate.” Uh huh.
Good, fuck him, and also, he’s still “worth” roughly $900 billion too much by my estimate, which, to be clear, would still make him richer than God
www.bbc.com/news/article…
— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) 5:50 PM · Jun 24, 2026
Voters of course saw right through all this bullshit, and humiliatingly trounced the Musk-based Republican candidate. Voters also filed lawsuits last year against the same check giveaway, while noting that Musk had also offered $100 payments for those who signed the petition. That lawsuit likewise alleges Musk and the groups he backed in Wisconsin violated multiple laws on both vote bribery and the conducting of “unauthorized lotteries,” forming an unlawful conspiracy. Said lawsuit is still pending in Brown County, Wisconsin. Elon Musk ultimately distributed three $1 million checks in Wisconsin in the days before the April 1, 2025 election: Two at the advertised event, and one a few days earlier to another chosen petition signer.
It should go without saying not to expect fireworks here, particularly with a Republican district attorney in Brown County. Billionaires do not tend to get hauled into court to face criminal charges over election meddling, you may have noticed. Former trillionaires? Well, there’s not much precedent for that, is there? But man, what an effective symbol it would be, to charge Elon Musk with a crime in this particular case, as a statement of principles: To loudly proclaim that Wisconsin voters refuse to be bought, and won’t tolerate the world’s richest man rolling in with bags full of money in a blatantly obvious attempt to bend state elections to his own desired outcome. Until the DA’s office makes its decision, at least we can dream of Musk’s head being weighed down with the cheesehead hat of shame.
“Elon Musk referred for possible criminal prosecution…”
Hi. Debbie Downer here. Consequences are for poor people. Don’t hold your breath.
— Canis Latranscendental (@grimmycoyote.bsky.social) 7:12 PM · Jul 14, 2026
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