Wisconsin Elections Commission finds probable cause Elon Musk broke election bribery law.
The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission found probable cause that Elon Musk violated state election bribery law by handing out $1 million checks to voters. The commission referred complaints to prosecutors, who have 40 days to report back.
Last week, the commission referred two complaints to the Brown County District Attorney's Office, which will decide whether to pursue criminal charges under Wisconsin's election bribery law.
The complaints stem from Musk's practice of offering cash giveaways to certain voters who signed petitions organized by his political action committee. The initiative began during President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign and continued during Wisconsin's April 2025 judicial election.
A motion approved by the commission found probable cause that Musk violated a state law prohibiting anyone from offering "anything of value" to induce a person to vote. Several days before the election, Musk presented oversized ceremonial checks to two voters at a campaign rally after they had been introduced as spokespeople for his political action committee.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to intervene before the election.
Musk and organizations supporting him spent at least $20 million backing Republican candidate Brad Schimel. However, Schimel lost by 10 percentage points to Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford.
Overall spending on the election exceeded $100 million, making it the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. Musk, the founder of Space X and CEO of Tesla, played a major role in the effort to shift the ideological balance of Wisconsin's highest court.
The six-member commission, composed of three Republicans and three Democrats, voted 5-1 last Thursday to refer two confidential complaints filed by voters from Milwaukee and Green Bay to the Brown County District Attorney's Office, according to Communications Director Emilee Miklas.
It remains unclear whether Brown County District Attorney David Lasee will pursue criminal charges. It had contacted both Lasee and Musk for comment.
Before the election, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul sued to block the payments, arguing that Musk had violated state law by offering money to influence voters. After the election, an advocacy group filed a separate lawsuit alleging that the cash giveaways violated Wisconsin's election bribery statute and also constituted an unauthorized lottery.
A month after the Republican-backed candidate's decisive defeat, Musk announced that he would significantly reduce his spending on political campaigns.