Elon Musk likely broke the law by giving voters $1 million, the Wisconsin state legislature says.

Billionaire Elon Musk likely violated Wisconsin law when he handed out $1 million checks to voters in the 2025 state Supreme Court election, a bipartisan commission has found.

Last week, the Wisconsin Elections Commission referred the two complaints to the Brown County District Attorney’s Office, which could choose to pursue criminal charges for violating state law against election bribery. Prosecutors must report to the committee within 40 days.

Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, was deeply involved in efforts to overturn the majority control of the Supreme Court in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

The tech giant and the organizations he supports spent at least $20 million on Republican candidate Brad Schimmel. However, he lost to Democratic candidate Susan Crawford by a 10-point margin.

A month after his lopsided defeat, Musk announced that he would sharply reduce spending on political activities. Election spending exceeded $100 million, making it the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history.

The complaint, which is classified under state law, was filed by voters in Milwaukee and Green Bay, Brown County. Musk handed out checks at a rally here days before the election.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission, which is made up of three Democrats and three Republicans, voted 5-1 in a closed session Thursday to refer the charges to the district attorney, said Emily Miklas, a spokeswoman for the commission.

Brown County District Attorney David Lacey, a Republican, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

The motion approved by the Board of Elections found probable cause that Musk violated Wisconsin law by posting a social media post offering $1 million to people who voted in the Supreme Court election “to induce them to vote.”

A spokesperson for Mr. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

Three Wisconsin voters received checks from Mr. Musk, two in person at a rally in Green Bay. Two weeks before the election, Musk’s political action committee America PAC offered $100 to voters who signed a petition against the “activist judge” or referred someone else to do so.

Crawford’s victory means liberals maintain a majority on the state Supreme Court, and this year’s victory for Democratic nominee Chris Taylor increased their majority to 5-2.

Mr. Musk’s spending on the 2025 election has already prompted a lawsuit by the Wisconsin Democratic Campaign, a government watchdog group, seeking to bar Mr. Musk from ever offering cash payments in the state again.

That lawsuit is pending in Brown County. The group alleges that Musk and the two organizations he funds violated prohibitions on voting bribery and unauthorized lottery tickets, and that his actions amounted to an illegal conspiracy and a public nuisance.

Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general filed a lawsuit to prevent Musk from handing out checks to two voters, but the lawsuit was rejected by a state court.

Musk’s lawyers argued in a 2025 legal filing that Musk was exercising his right to free speech through the giveaway and any attempt to limit it, violating both the Wisconsin Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.

Musk’s lawyers argued in a court filing that the payments were “intended to create a grassroots movement against activist judges and were not intended to explicitly advocate for or oppose any particular candidate.”

Musk’s political action committee used a largely similar tactic before the 2024 presidential election, offering to pay voters $1 million a day in Wisconsin and six other battleground states to sign petitions supporting the First and Second Amendments. A Pennsylvania judge said prosecutors had failed to prove the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue until Election Day.