Musk Gets PlainSite Founder’s Pay-for-Votes Allegations Tossed

Elon Musk successfully defended against an allegation that his promise to pay $1 million to swing state voters who signed a petition for his political action committee was an illegal lottery system.

Aaron Greenspan failed to show that the pay-for-votes promise was sufficiently related to Greenspan’s underlying racketeering complaint against Musk, said Judge Maxine M. Chesney of the US District Court of the Northern District of California.

There must be a relationship between the injury claimed in the motion for injunctive relief and the conduct asserted in the underlying complaint, Chesney wrote, citing US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit precedent.

Greenspan, the founder of PlainSite, sued Musk in California court in June before it was removed, alleging, among other things, defamation and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Greenspan says that Musk has orchestrated a harassment campaign against him and PlainSite, which was publishing and analyzing public records about Tesla.

The voter scheme is an effort to further Musk’s allegedly criminal RICO enterprise, known as the Atlanteca Enterprise, which encompasses dozens of legal entities established to “defraud the general public and stash the resulting unlawfully obtained funds,” Greenspan wrote in his Oct. 20 emergency motion.

Greenspan argued that the initiative was an effort to avoid possible prosecution by the FBI and the US Department of Justice. If former President Donald Trump is elected in November, Musk can secure a pardon, according to Greenspan’s motion.

Musk responded that Greenspan’s complaint pleaded no claims relating to election interference, and the court doesn’t have the authority to issue the injunction he sought.

Chesney’s order denying Greenspan’s motion Tuesday didn’t address the merits of Greenspan’s allegations but agreed with Musk that the injury Greenspan claimed wasn’t related to the conduct in Greenspan’s complaint.

Greenspan represents himself. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan LLP represents Musk.

The case is Greenspan v. Musk, N.D. Cal., No. 3:24-cv-04647, 10/23/24.