Elon Musk was ordered on Wednesday by a federal judge to face a lawsuit by voters accusing the world’s richest person of defrauding them into signing a petition to support the U.S. Constitution for a chance to win his $1 million-a-day giveaway.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, Texas said Jacqueline McAferty plausibly alleged in her proposed class action that Musk and his political action committee America PAC wrongly induced her to provide personal identifying information as part of the giveaway, late in the 2024 election campaign.

Musk founded America PAC to support Republican Donald Trump’s successful 2024 presidential run.

      • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        You may be right, but I’m pretty sure a Democratic billionaire would also have had their crime ignored. I think the main issue is wealth, not party in this case, though party surely helped.

    • MisterOwl@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      This is america and he’s rich. He doesn’t even have to face the lawsuit. He can just ignore it.

    • wheezy@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      China gets one thing right. Straight to reeducation camps with their billionaires that try to fuck with the party; sometimes never to be seen again. Though I’m sure that’s pay to play too. At least they do it.

      Vietnam too. Didn’t they death sentence someone that literally stole billions from the public? I’m against death sentence. But God damn if that wouldn’t put the billionaires in their place.

      Better than executing mentally handicapped people like Texas seemingly loves to do.

  • grue@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but if something is illegal isn’t it supposed to result in CRIMINAL CHARGES, not just a civil lawsuit?!

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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      A person is suing Musk, not the state and if I’m not mistaken, the burden of proof is also less in a civil case so it’s more likely they can win. So they could have chosen civil for that purpose.

      If they do win, that could maybe encourage a criminal case to go forward?

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        Sure, but why is that necessary? Why have the state and/or federal prosecutors failed to indict him? His crime was public and notorious; why are they not doing their goddamn jobs?

        • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Some states (not sure if this one was) tried to get an injunction against it and failed in court.

          It’s possible that the state doesn’t think they have a strong enough case to win a criminal trial? (Edit assuming this was one of those states)

    • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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      Yep.

      I remember when the world’s wealthiest man stood on a stage behind a presidential seal at a presidential inauguration in a country that took him in and made him extraordinarily wealthy and performed not one, but two Nazi salutes on national television.

      Then I remember conservatives making excuses for that Nazi the same way they make excuses for a felon rapist pedophile.

      It’s almost like they’re traitors to our nation.

    • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      One of the biggest failings of our system is that it takes so fucking long to bring a viable lawsuit up that you can almost never stop the illegal behavior while it’s happening. And many suits get automatically dismissed because “it already happened and is therefore irrelevant now”.

  • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Let me guess.

    No fine. Or a fine that represents a fraction of a single percent of his total wealth.

  • guyincognito@piefed.social
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    2 days ago

    I’m hoping he’s given a prison sentence and instead he gets out of said sentence by releasing the Epstein files I’m 99% sure he made a copy of while DOGE was doing it’s shit.