La Crosse County DA Will Not Charge Elon Musk
DA doesn’t think Musk would be convicted for offering $1 million checks during 2025 election.
Elon Musk. Photo taken April 28, 2017 by Steve Jurvetson. (CC BY 2.0)
Billionaire Elon Musk will not face criminal charges related to a social media post he made offering $1 million to people who voted in the 2025 state Supreme Court race, the La Crosse County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
In a statement, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke said he did not believe he could convince a jury to convict Musk of election bribery.
That’s after the Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5-1 that there was probable cause that Musk violated state law in his post offering $1 million to two people.
On March 27, 2025, Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns, offering two $1 million checks to attendees of a talk he planned to give in Wisconsin, saying the payments would be limited to those who voted in the Supreme Court election.
In another post about 12 hours later, Musk clarified that entrance to his event was limited to those who signed a petition and that the checks would be given to two individuals who would be spokespeople for the petition.
He held a town hall in Green Bay on March 30, 2025, where he handed out two oversized $1 million checks. Outside the event, protesters gathered in the rain and framed Musk’s action as an attempt to buy an election.
Gruenke said Musk’s first post appeared to contradict state law and could be seen as a lottery for voting.
But he said the post was vague enough that it could also be seen as offering entry to a free town hall and the second post clarifies that the money awarded was a “pre-determined payment” to a spokesperson.
“In the end nobody was paid anything of value for voting or promising to vote,” the La Crosse district attorney wrote. “Even if I could convince a jury that the original post was still a bribe, I do not believe that a jury would convict Elon Musk of a crime after considering the intent, the second post, and the fact nothing of value was ever given to anyone for voting.”
Gruenke added that he has often tried to work with campaigns and candidates, both partisan and nonpartisan, to correct potential violations of elections or campaign laws.
In this case, he said he felt it was a case of a “poorly worded statement” that was later corrected and “brought into compliance with the law.”
“Because the original post was poorly worded and ambiguous about who would receive money, and the second post corrected the problem relatively quickly, I do not believe a jury would convict Elon Musk of a crime,” he said.
The case was transferred to Gruenke from the Brown County District Attorney’s Office, which cited a conflict of interest. Brown County District Attorney David Lasee is a Republican, while Gruenke is a Democrat.
The elections commission had given a pair of complaints against Musk to Brown County for possible criminal charges.
A pair of northeast Wisconsin state lawmakers joined local activists at the Brown County Courthouse last month to urge the DA’s office to take action on the complaints.
State Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner, D-Green Bay, spoke at that press conference. On Tuesday afternoon, he told WPR that he was “frustrated” with the decision by the La Crosse County district attorney.
He said it “reinforces this idea that we have a two-tier justice system” with one tier for everyday Wisconsinites and another one for the wealthy and the powerful.
“The bipartisan elections commission thought it was illegal, and ultimately, on what seems like a technicality, we’re claiming that we can’t pursue charges,” he said. “This is why people are frustrated with the status quo of both politics and power.”
Rivera-Wagner and state Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, introduced a bill last session aimed at shoring up state elections bribery law to prevent political donors from handing out checks or gifts in exchange for voting or signing political petitions.
Rivera-Wagner said he hopes to introduce the bill again next legislative session.
“The reason why we introduced the bill was to close a perceived loophole that we did not think anyone would actually use, and — unfortunately for the people of Wisconsin — it seems that perceived loophole was a reason why (the DA chose) not to hold a trillionaire accountable,” he said.
In civil court, Musk faces a civil suit from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonprofit campaign finance watchdog group. The case was initially filed in Dane County, but has since moved to Brown County.
Scott Thompson, staff counsel for Law Forward, the firm representing the Democracy Campaign, said in a statement that the DA’s decision “does not change the basic fact that unprecedented million-dollar giveaways and other cash offers have no place in free and fair elections.”
“We must stop this from becoming the new normal, here in Wisconsin and across the nation,” he stated. “Our case is far from over.”
An attorney representing Musk in the civil case declined to comment, and spokespeople for his social media platform did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
La Crosse County DA will not charge Elon Musk, saying he doesn’t think he could get a conviction was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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