Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 7 to include information from newly released court documents.
A federal judge on Wednesday kept alive a proposed class action lawsuitbrought by a Lancaster man and others against Elon Musk for allegedly failing to pay for voter outreach completed ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
U.S. District Court Judge Wendy Beetlestone denied a motion by Musk’s attorneys to dismiss portions of the case brought by Anthony Maglietta, the former owner of Molly’s Pub in Lancaster, along with several plaintiffs from other swing states. The decision came a few days after the same judge extended the evidence-gathering phase for the plaintiffs.
The suit is over a promise made by Musk, through his America PAC, to pay $47 to every person who signed the “Petition in Favor of Free Speech and the Right to Bear Arms.” Musk and the PAC promoted an additional offer of $47 for each person successfully referred to sign the petition. Musk later raised the offer to $100 as the election neared.
The world’s richest man, Musk was a major backer of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, spending nearly $300 million of his own money on Trump’s behalf, according to published reports.
But Maglietta and the plaintiffs say neither Musk nor the PAC paid for gathering signatures from an unspecified number of Pennsylvanians.
Among the attorneys representing Maglietta and the plaintiffs is Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Massachusetts-based attorney who has garnered a national reputation as one of the top attorneys prosecuting billionaires accused of owing money.
“When people make promises, especially very public figures, they should live up to their promises,” Liss-Riordan said of the proposed class-action case against Musk. “That’s what we do. We represent people who haven’t been paid what they’re promised to be paid.”
Liss-Riordan did not share how much money Maglietta argues he’s owed by Musk and America PAC.
By April 1, Liss-Riordan said her team will need to gather documents and depositions from the plaintiffs, as well as exchange necessary information with Musk’s attorneys. Then Judge Beetlestone, presiding over the case in Pennsylvania’s Eastern District, is expected to rule on whether the case can advance as a class action.
Attorneys representing Musk did not respond to a request for comment.