A former canvasser for Elon Musk’s America PAC operation—which mobilized voters to sign a sketchy “petition” during last year’s presidential election—has sued the billionaire, accusing him and his political organization of failing to pay him at least $20,000.
The former canvasser, who is described as a Philadelphia man, hasn’t revealed his real name, for fear of retaliation. “For his safety and security, Plaintiff John Doe is proceeding under a pseudonym,” the suit states.
During the presidential election, Musk mobilized voters in swing states to sign a vague petition in “support of the Constitution.” Only people who were registered to vote could sign the petition. To drive broader and broader adoption of the initiative, America PAC initially claimed it would pay canvassers $47 for each person that they successfully convinced to sign the petition. It later upped the offer to $100. Due to Musk’s close proximity to the Trump campaign and his open and vocal support of Trump, the initiative was almost immediately accused of being a paid voter registration drive and/or a vote-buying scheme, both of which are illegal.
Doe, who canvassed for America PAC and Musk’s other org, Group America, LLC, claims he was never paid the referral money that he’s owed. “Defendants have since failed to pay Plaintiff and Class Members in full for their signatures and referrals,” the lawsuit states. “Leading up to the November 2024 election, while canvassing in Pennsylvania, Plaintiff referred many voters to sign the America PAC petition,” it says. “While Plaintiff was paid his hourly rate for canvassing, and he was paid some referrals for the petition signatures he obtained (albeit well after he performed the work to obtain these referrals), Plaintiff estimates that he has not been paid at least $20,000 he is owed for his referrals.”
The litigation has been filed as a class-action lawsuit and states that other known canvassers were also stiffed by the organization. “Plaintiff is in communication with numerous others who referred voters to sign the America PAC petition, who are likewise frustrated that they did not receive full payments for their referrals,” it continues. The litigation claims that America PAC owes at least $5 million in unpaid referral money to canvassers. “There are expected to be more than 100 Class Members, and the amount in controversy is expected to exceed $5,000,000,” the suit says.
Gizmodo reached out to Musk via Tesla. It wasn’t immediately clear how to reach America PAC, as the organization’s website has no contact portal. We’ve contacted a PR specialist associated with the group but did not receive an immediate response.
In a statement to the Associated Press, America PAC spokesperson Andrew Romeo said: “America PAC is committed to paying for every legitimate petition signature, which is evidenced by the fact that we have paid tens of millions of dollars to canvassers for their hard work in support of our mission. While we don’t yet know who this ‘John Doe’ plaintiff is and can’t speak to their specific circumstances, we can say that we are also committed to rooting out fraud and have the right to withhold payments to fraudsters.”
The litigation is perhaps the latest sign that Musk’s efforts to play Master Oligarch in American politics can actually result in negative consequences for the billionaire. Elon’s attempts to buy the U.S. presidential election in 2024 were obviously successful, but it also came with a cost. Meanwhile, Musk’s most recent attempt to buy an election—this time for a pivotal Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin—has flopped. Musk’s shameless intrusion into the state’s politics involved pouring tens of millions of dollars into the race, all of which can now be declared a complete and utter waste of money. Musk also claimed that the “future of civilization” hung in the balance and, now, as he shrugs off the loss (he has since claimed that he “expected to lose“), it should be obvious to everyone that he is full of shit.
Musk has since pivoted to claim that a referendum on voter ID that passed in the legislature was the “most important thing” about the elections. However, the new measure doesn’t add anything to the electoral process that didn’t already exist. As one local news outlet puts it, Wisconsin voters “will not notice any change when they go to the polls. They will still have to present a valid photo ID just as they have under the state law, which was passed in 2011 and went into effect permanently in 2016 after a series of unsuccessful lawsuits.”
Worse, Musk’s recent political defeat could mean the beginning of the end of his bromance with Trump. A report from Politico on Wednesday suggested that Musk would soon be asked to leave the administration. However, the White House has already come out to denounce the report (WH press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the report “garbage”) and claims that Musk will “depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”
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