--- title: Elon Musk Could Get Charged With Breaking Election Law description: The billionaire could face criminal charges for possibly violating Wisconsin law when he offered voters $1 million last year, a bipartisan panel found. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/07/15/elon-musk-wisconsin-election-law-supreme-court-million-dollar-giveaway/ author: Miranda Jeyaretnam article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-07-15T10:20:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-15T10:18:09.423Z article:section: Politics og:title: Elon Musk Could Get Charged With Breaking Election Law og:description: The billionaire could face criminal charges for possibly violating Wisconsin law when he offered voters $1 million last year, a bipartisan panel found. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/07/15/elon-musk-wisconsin-election-law-supreme-court-million-dollar-giveaway/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d83d26ada8e4f06/6a575ca50b10e07eb2e48607/musk_check.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: musk check.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Elon Musk Could Get Charged With Breaking Election Law twitter:description: The billionaire could face criminal charges for possibly violating Wisconsin law when he offered voters $1 million last year, a bipartisan panel found. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d83d26ada8e4f06/6a575ca50b10e07eb2e48607/musk_check.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Elon Musk Could Get Charged With Breaking Election Law > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Miranda Jeyaretnam](https://time.com/author/miranda-jeyaretnam/)  ## Miranda Jeyaretnam Reporter Jul 15, 2026 10:20 AM UTC  Billionaire businessman Elon Musk prepares to give $1,000,000 to a Wisconsin voter during a town hall meeting he was hosting at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay, Wis., on March 30, 2025. Billionaire businessman Elon Musk prepares to give $1,000,000 to a Wisconsin voter during a town hall meeting he was hosting at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay, Wis., on March 30, 2025. Scott Olson—Getty Images  by [Miranda Jeyaretnam](https://time.com/author/miranda-jeyaretnam/)  ## Miranda Jeyaretnam Reporter Jul 15, 2026 10:20 AM UTC Elon Musk could face charges for violating Wisconsin election law when he [gave some voters $1 million checks](https://time.com/7273138/wisconsin-supreme-court-race-and-elon-musk/) during the state Supreme Court election last year. The Wisconsin Elections Commission, which consists of three Democrats and three Republicans, found probable cause that the billionaire violated the state’s election bribery law “by making a social media post that offered one million dollars to individuals who voted in the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court Election in order to induce them to vote in that election,” the _Milwaukee Journal Sentinel_ [reported](https://archive.is/LVh4Z) on Tuesday. The commission voted 5-1 in closed session last Thursday to refer two confidential complaints from Milwaukee and Green Bay to the Brown County district attorney’s office for possible criminal prosecution. Under state law, prosecutors have 40 days to notify the commission of their decision. TIME has reached out to Brown County District Attorney David Lasee for comment. Musk, the richest person in the world, spent heavily in an effort to flip control of the Supreme Court in the battleground state. He backed then-Circuit Court Judge and former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican. Musk and organizations he funded or controlled spent more than $20 million on his campaign. Schimel ultimately lost to Democrat Susan Crawford, preserving the Democratic majority in the Supreme Court. In total, conservative and liberal supporters spent more than $100 million on the race, the most of any judicial election in American history. Under scrutiny are Musk’s $1 million voter giveaways. “On Sunday night, I will give a talk in Wisconsin,” Musk posted on X in late March. “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.” The post has since been deleted. Soon after, Musk clarified in [another post](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1905673297439666486), “entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges. I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to 2 people to be spokesmen for the petition.” Musk gave out the two $1 million checks at a rally in Brown County on March 30, 2025, shortly before the April 1 election. Days prior, Musk’s America PAC awarded another million-dollar check to a Wisconsin voter who signed its petition opposing “activist judges.” The PAC also offered registered voters $100 if they signed the petition or referred someone to sign it. ## Multiple efforts to stop Musk The complaints are not the only effort to rein in Musk’s political spending. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, [filed a lawsuit](https://www.wisdoj.gov/PressReleases/3-28-25-kaul-v-musk-press-release.pdf) on March 28, 2025, a day after Musk’s first social media post, seeking to stop Musk from distributing the checks. Musk’s attorneys at the time had argued that an injunction would “restrain Musk’s political speech and curtail his First Amendment rights.” The million-dollar giveaways were intended to “generate a grassroots movement in opposition to activist judges, not to expressly advocate for or against any candidate,” Musk’s attorneys argued in legal filings. State courts ultimately declined to block the giveaways and the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied Kaul’s emergency petition without explaining its reasoning. Last June, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a government watchdog, and two voters [filed a lawsuit](https://www.lawforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/No.-004-Summons-and-Complaint-6.18.25%5FRedacted.pdf) alleging that Musk, America PAC, and another of Musk’s political organizations violated laws on election bribery and unauthorized lotteries. It also argues that their conduct constituted an unlawful civil conspiracy and public nuisance. The lawsuit seeks to bar Musk from offering similar cash payments to Wisconsin voters in future elections. The lawsuit is pending in Brown County. Musk’s America PAC held similar million-dollar giveaways in the lead up to the 2024 presidential election. Musk announced in October that year that the group would award $1 million every day to a registered voter in one of seven swing states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments. The group also offered money to petition signers who referred another voter to sign it. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued Musk and America PAC, arguing that the giveaway was an illegal lottery under Pennsylvania law. But Judge Angelo Foglietta declined to issue an injunction. Musk’s attorneys had argued that the recipients were selected to serve as paid spokespeople. Last May, Musk announced that he planned to significantly reduce his political spending. “In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” he said. “I think I’ve done enough.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/15/elon-musk-wisconsin-election-law-supreme-court-million-dollar-giveaway/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/15/elon-musk-wisconsin-election-law-supreme-court-million-dollar-giveaway/"},"headline":"Elon Musk Could Get Charged With Breaking Election Law","datePublished":"2026-07-15T10:20:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-15T10:18:09.423Z","description":"The billionaire could face criminal charges for possibly violating Wisconsin law when he offered voters $1 million last year, a bipartisan panel found.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/15/elon-musk-wisconsin-election-law-supreme-court-million-dollar-giveaway/","keywords":["elections","News Desk","overnight","Elon Musk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d83d26ada8e4f06/6a575ca50b10e07eb2e48607/musk_check.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Miranda Jeyaretnam","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/miranda-jeyaretnam/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d83d26ada8e4f06/6a575ca50b10e07eb2e48607/musk_check.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"musk check.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/elections/","name":"elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/15/elon-musk-wisconsin-election-law-supreme-court-million-dollar-giveaway/","name":"Elon Musk Could Get Charged With Breaking Election Law"}}]}] ```