Pennsylvania challenge of Elon Musk’s $1M-a-day voter sweepstakes moves to federal court

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Pennsylvania prosecutor’s effort to shut down Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes moved to federal court on Thursday after a state judge let both sides debate their grievances in a hearing skipped by the world’s richest man.

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

Musk’s lawyer, Matthew Haverstick, said he’s an extremely busy man who could not simply “materialize” in the courtroom hours after the hearing was scheduled. Krasner’s team challenged the notion that the founder of SpaceX could not make it Philadelphia, prompting a quick retort from the judge.

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

The huge giveaways to registered voters come from Musk’s political organization, which aims to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

After his lawyers argued that claims of federal election interference are involved, Foglietta put the state 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 Pennsylvania attorney general appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama. No hearings there were immediately scheduled.

Krasner, a Democrat, wants the case decided in state court in Democrat-led Philadelphia, where his lawsuit filed Monday 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, perhaps 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 largest electoral votes? I don’t think so,” lawyer John Summers argued.