The Justice Department has warned Elon Musk that his $1 million gift to registered voters may be illegal

(CNN) – The Justice Department recently warned Elon Musk's US political action committee that a $1 million grant to registered voters in key states could violate federal law, people familiar with the matter told CNN.

Musk, who has shown his support for former President Donald Trump and is spending millions of dollars to support his candidacy, announced the $1 million award through a political action committee (PAC) aimed at increasing voter registration in hotly contested states.

Musk's initial promise to pay insurance premiums to registered voters immediately raised concerns among election law experts and some state officials, who questioned whether he had violated the law.

Federal law prohibits paying people to register to vote. The petition language currently promises $1 million in prizes to randomly selected people to sign a petition in support of First and Second Amendment freedoms. But to sign the petition, you must be registered to vote in specific states.

A letter from the Justice Department's Public Integrity Division, which investigates potential election-related violations of the law, was sent to Musk's political action committee, according to people familiar with the matter.

CNN requested comment from Musk, several email addresses listed on the Super PAC's website, the group's treasurer, and Musk's media team on Platform X.

The Ministry of Justice declined to comment.

“We want to try to mobilize more than a million, perhaps two million voters in key states to sign the petition supporting the First and Second Amendments,” Musk said when announcing the raffle at a Trump campaign event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Saturday. “We will randomly give $1 million to people who sign the petition, every day, from now until the election.”

After Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and former state attorney general, said on Sunday that the giveaway was “deeply troubling” and worthy of legal scrutiny, Musk said published on its platform It was “disturbing that he would say such a thing.”

In response to a post that claimed Musk was “paying to register Republicans,” Musk said He said That the winners “could be from any party or none, and they don’t even have to vote.” He did not address the potential legal issue of opening the lottery only to registered voters.

This Sunday, the second day of the giveaway, the super PAC rephrased its message about the giveaway, describing the money as payment for a job. In social media posts, the group said the winners “will be chosen to win $1 million as a spokesperson for America PAC” and later posted pro-Trump videos featuring the winners.

However, several election law experts who spoke to CNN noted that the fine print on Musk's super PAC's website explaining the formal terms of participation has not changed. Only signers of the petition can win the $1 million prize, and signers must be “registered voters in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin.”

It is not known when Musk received the letter from the Department of Justice and whether it caused changes to the letter regarding the giveaway.