The Philadelphia district attorney’s lawsuit against Elon Musk’s $1 million election sweepstakes is headed to federal court

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The Philadelphia district attorney’s attempt to block Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day contest was moved to federal court on Thursday after a state judge let both sides discuss their grievances at a hearing that the world’s richest man skipped .

Judge Angelo Foglietta agreed that Musk should have attended the hearing as a named defendant in the lawsuit filed by District Attorney Larry Krasner, but declined to immediately sanction the tech mogul.

Musk’s lawyer, Matthew Haverstick, said he was an extremely busy man who couldn’t simply “show up” in the courtroom hours after the scheduled hearing. Krasner’s team disputed the claim that the SpaceX founder couldn’t make it to Philadelphia, prompting a quick retort from the judge.

“Lawyer, he’s not going to get on a rocket and land on the building,” Foglietta replied.

The huge gifts to registered voters come from Musk’s political organization aimed at boosting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

After his lawyers argued that they were allegations of federal election interference, Foglietta put the case on hold pending a decision in federal court, where the case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert, a Republican former attorney general of Pennsylvania who was appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama. No immediate hearings were scheduled.

But in a new emergency motion Thursday evening, Krasner asked the judge to send the case back to state court “immediately” — and urged her to do so Thursday “if at all possible” so that it can continue in state court .

In their filing, the prosecution team says Musk’s claims are “meritless” and reiterates that their lawsuit “only asserts claims under state law” and is therefore not subject to a federal quashing.

They say Musk’s last-minute effort was “a ploy to gain a procedural advantage to avoid a decision … and keep the clock ticking until Election Day.”

Judge Gerald J. Pappert ordered Musk to respond to the prosecution’s filing by 10 a.m. Friday.

Krasner, a Democrat, has accused Musk and his PAC of running a dubious lottery in the tense run-up to Tuesday’s election.

Krasner’s lawyers noted that four of the first dozen winners appeared to be from Pennsylvania, potentially the key prize in the tight presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Is it just a coincidence that this is the state that has the most electoral votes? I don’t think so,” argued attorney John Summers.

2024 Voter Guide: What you need to know before Election Day in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Del.

From contributions from Musk’s America PAC in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan.

Krasner’s lawyers noted that Musk and the America PAC “brazenly” continued the lottery every day this week, including Thursday morning, despite Krasner’s legal attempt to shut it down. The sweepstakes runs through Election Day and is open to people in states close to the election who can prove they are registered to vote and sign a petition supporting the Constitution.

“You do things in the dark,” Summers told the judge. “We don’t know the rules that will be followed. We don’t know how they supposedly select people at random… This is a scandal.”

Election law experts have questioned whether it violates federal law that prohibits someone from paying others to vote. Musk viewed the money as both a prize and a reward for his work as the group’s spokesman.

Krasner said he could still consider criminal charges because his job is to protect both lotteries and the integrity of elections. In the lawsuit, he said the defendants are “indisputably” violating Pennsylvania’s lottery laws.

Both Trump and Kamala Harris have made repeated visits to the state as they battle for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.

Musk, who also owns Tesla and his super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, is taking over much of the effort to get Trump elected.

He gave more than $70 million to the super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.