Elon Musk will not face criminal charges for alleged election bribery related to Wisconsin’s 2025 Supreme Court election, as announced by La Crosse County’s top prosecutor on Tuesday.
In an open letter, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke stated his belief that he would be unable to persuade a jury that the tech mogul committed a crime with his 2025 social media posts, where Musk offered to “personally hand over two checks for a million dollars” to voters.
The letter scrutinizes two posts from March 27, 2025. In the first post, Musk announced a talk in Wisconsin with entry “limited to those who have voted in the Supreme Court Election.”
“I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote,” Musk wrote in the initial post, which he later amended about 12 hours later.
In the revised post, Musk clarified: “To clarify a previous post, entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges. I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to 2 people to be spokesmen for the petition.”
On Tuesday, Gruenke acknowledged that while the first post might be perceived as potential misconduct, it could also be interpreted as offering entry to a free town hall, which does not constitute a bribe. Additionally, the money was intended as a pre-arranged payment to selected ‘spokesmen,’ not as a reward for voting. He pointed out that the second post addressed and corrected the potential violation, emphasizing that “nobody was paid anything of value for voting or promising to vote.”
Last month, the Wisconsin Elections Commission concluded in a 5-1 vote that Musk’s posts violated the state’s election bribery statute and referred the matter to the special prosecutor, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Musk’s legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
