The La Crosse County district attorney will serve as a special prosecutor to decide whether to prosecute Elon Musk over an election bribery complaint after the Brown County District Attorney's office cited a conflict of interest.
After the Wisconsin Elections Commission determined that Musk likely violated anti-bribery laws with a social media post offering $1 million to people who voted in the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, it referred two complaints to the Brown County DA to review.
On Aug. 7, Brown County District Attorney David Lasee said in a news release that he concluded that the district attorney's office has a conflict of interest. Lasee's office did not immediately respond to requests for more information about the conflict of interest.
La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke will instead take on the case as special prosecutor. Citing Wisconsin state statute, Gruenke told the Press-Gazette he wasn't able to release any information about how he got involved in the case, when he got involved or what the timeline looked like.
The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission concluded in July that a post by Musk from March 2025, which offered a possible $1 million check to signatories of his "Petition In Opposition to Activist Judges" during a visit to Green Bay, was meant to induce people to vote. The commission determined 5-1 that the post likely violated state laws against bribery.
Musk handed out two $1 million checks during the event, held March 30, 2025, at the KI Convention Center for 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel, to people he said signed the petition.
Several days before Musk came to Green Bay, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, asked the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court to block the payments. The court declined.
District attorneys in Wisconsin run for office in partisan election. Lasee is a Republican and Gruenke is a Democrat.
Contact Green Bay education reporter Nadia Scharf at [email protected] or on X at @nadiaascharf.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Special prosecutor to review Elon Musk election complaint in Brown Co.