Billionaire Elon Musk could face prosecution after a bipartisan elections commission found that he likely broke the law by offering $1 million checks to Wisconsin voters in last year’s state Supreme Court election.
The Tesla chief and MAGA megadonor poured a record $21 million into a normally low-profile and non-partisan judicial race held in April 2025, only for liberal appellate Judge Susan Crawford to beat his preferred candidate, Brad Schimel, by 10 points.
In an effort to shore up support for Schimel, who was also endorsed by President Donald Trump, Musk made a social media post offering $1 million to people who voted in the election, eventually handing out three checks to voters.
His America PAC political action committee also offered $100 to voters who signed or referred other signatories to a petition opposing “activist judges.”
Now, the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission has found probable cause that Musk violated the state’s election laws by making the social media post “in order to induce them to vote in that election,” the Associated Press reported.
The commission, which is made up of three Democrats and three Republicans, voted 5-1 to refer two voter complaints from Milwaukee and Green Bay to the Brown County district attorney’s office, the commission’s spokesperson told the AP.
Spokespeople for Musk and Brown County District Attorney David Lasee, who is a Republican, did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment. The Daily Beast has also reached out.
The government watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign had previously filed a lawsuit, which is pending in Brown County, seeking to block Musk from offering future cash payments in the state.
At the time, the state’s Democratic attorney general sued to try to stop Musk from handing out the $1 million payments, but the state courts allowed the payments to continue.
Musk had hyped the Wisconsin election as a race that could “determine the fate of Western civilization” and said it mattered “for the future of the world” because of the state Supreme Court’s role in congressional redistricting.
Crawford’s win allowed the liberals to keep their majority on the court, with their advantage growing to 5-2 this year after Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor also won an election in April by double digits.
After Schimel lost in 2025, Musk said he would spend far less on political campaigns. He also said he had “done enough” political spending right around the time of his explosive break-up with Trump last year.
