SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk participates in a town hall-style meeting to promote early and absentee voting at Ridley High School on October 17, 2024 in Folsom, Delaware County. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA — Elon Musk was a no-show in a Philadelphia courtroom Thursday morning for a scheduled hearing over a lawsuit filed by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, alleging that the $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes Musk’s America PAC has been conducting in Pennsylvania is an illegal lottery.
In a filing late Wednesday, America PAC’s attorneys argued that the state court was not the proper venue for the lawsuit. “This matter involves claims that are inherently federal in nature,” due mainly to Krasner’s allegation that the $1 million giveaways amount to interference in a federal election for President of the United States, the PAC’s attorneys said. They seek to move the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Krasner’s attorney John Summers said during the hearing that the filing to move the hearing to federal court was “cowardly and irresponsible” and criticized Musk for not attending. He pointed to a post Musk re-shared on X, formerly Twitter, which Musk owns, that called Judge Angelo Foglietta a “leftist judge.” The judge said that was “irrelevant.”
Matt Haverstick, the attorney representing Musk’s America PAC said Musk is a busy man and if required he would be in court. But Haverstick said their position is that the only correct defendant is America PAC. He called the suit a publicity stunt and a circus atmosphere.
Summers took issue with the notion that Musk couldn’t attend Thursday’s hearing, noting he’s the richest man in the world and could show up if he wanted to. The fact that four of the 12 winners of $1 million checks from the sweepstakes are from Pennsylvania, a key swing state with 19 electoral votes, Summers said, was not a coincidence.
In the Pennsylvania lottery, he added, the winners are selected at random.
Krasner filed the civil suit on behalf of the commonwealth in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas on Monday, alleging that the $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes Musk has been conducting in Pennsylvania is an illegal lottery.
“To be clear, this is not a case about whether Defendants have violated state or federal laws prohibiting vote-buying. Instead, this case is very simple because America PAC and Musk are indisputably violating Pennsylvania’s statutory prohibitions against illegal lotteries and deceiving consumers,” Krasner’s suit says.
Krasner’s suit seeks an injunction to stop America PAC and Musk from continuing the violations. It says allowing them to continue would irreparably harm Philadelphia and Pennsylvania residents and “tarnish the public’s right to a fee and fair election.”
In a filing late Wednesday, America PAC’s attorneys argued that the state court was not the proper venue for the lawsuit, since “this matter involves claims that are inherently federal in nature,” due mainly to Krasner’s allegation that the $1 million giveaways amount to interference in a federal election for President of the United States. They seek to move the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
During the Thursday hearing, Foglietta noted that those who win the lottery are only required to be registered voters, and that it doesn’t matter which political party they are affiliated with. Summers said that is the case, but those who enter the lottery must sign a pledge of support to the 1st and 2nd amendments.
Summers described the speeches Musk is delivering on the campaign trail as “weird rallies” and noted him jumping around on stage. Summers argued the case is not a federal election code issue.
The judge asked what it had to do with the election.
Summers responded by providing a hypothetical situation: If someone shot another person while they waited in line to vote, the shooter could be charged with homicide, and it would not be a federal case, even though it would potentially affect the outcome of the election.
He called Musk the “800 pound gorilla” in the room and said the PAC was taking information from registrants that could be bought and sold, since there is no transparency around how winners are selected.
What America PAC is currently doing, Summers argued, are deceptive practices and not what a good lottery would do.
After exiting the courtroom, the lawyers defending Musk’s PAC did not respond to any questions from reporters. Summers noted that Musk’s attorneys had filed the federal suit on “mischief night,” the night before Halloween when some in the Philadelphia region get up to hijinks.
“DA Krasner was here to testify. Elon Musk didn’t show,” Summers said. “We are going to handle this case and continue to handle this case,” adding they would proceed to federal court and seek to have the case remanded back to state court. “After all, this is a case that involves state law issues, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Musk announced on Oct. 7 that the PAC would pay Pennsylvania registered voters $47 to sign its petition in support of free speech and gun rights. The amount offered later increased to $100, then at a rally in Harrisburg for former President Donald Trump on Oct. 19, Musk announced those who signed the petition and were registered to vote in Pennsylvania and six other swing states in the presidential election would be eligible to be randomly selected to win $1 million.
Election law experts have told the Capital-Star that the sweepstakes likely violates a federal law against paying people to register to vote. Gov. Josh Shapiro said in an interview on “Meet the Press” on Oct. 20 that the payments are “deeply concerning,” although he stopped short of calling for an investigation.
America PAC on Wednesday revealed its latest $1 million winner from North Carolina. The PAC said winners would be announced daily through Election Day.
This story was updated with details from the courthouse in Philadelphia Oct. 31, 2024.
(Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.)