By Jack Queen
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) -Elon Musk, a billionaire supporting Republican Donald Trump, has been ordered to attend a Thursday hearing in a prosecutor’s lawsuit to block his $1 million-a-day giveaway to registered swing state voters ahead of the U.S. election on Nov. 5.
The hearing before Judge Angelo Foglietta concerns Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s bid to halt the giveaway less than a week before the tightly contested U.S. presidential election between former President Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to published reports, Krasner asked the court for added security for the hearing, saying social media users posted an “avalanche” of inflammatory posts, including antisemitic attacks toward him, and posted his home address.
Musk, meanwhile, is seeking to move the case to the federal court in Philadelphia.
In a filing there, Musk said Krasner’s interference with core political speech and claim that he was “somehow unlawfully interfering with a federal election” raised significant questions of federal law that belonged in federal court.
Krasner, who championed progressive causes when running for district attorney, accuses Tesla CEO Musk and his political action committee America PAC of hatching an “illegal lottery scheme to influence voters.”
Musk promised to give $1 million a day to randomly selected people who signed a petition pledging support for free speech and gun rights.
Signatories were required to be registered voters in one of seven states that will likely decide the outcome of the Nov. 5 election – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Musk gave away the first $1 million to an attendee of an Oct. 19 rally hosted by America PAC in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Krasner’s Oct. 28 lawsuit alleges the giveaway amounts to an illegal lottery unsanctioned by the state, which has sole authority to run and regulate them.
The lawsuit also says it violates consumer protection laws by “deploying deceptive, vague or misleading statements” about its rules.
“Running an illegal lottery and violating consumer protections is ample basis for an injunction and concluding that America PAC and Musk must be stopped, immediately, before the upcoming Presidential Election on November 5,” the lawsuit said.
Krasner’s office said Musk and America PAC have not published clear rules for the giveaway nor said how they are protecting voters’ personal information.
He also said people who receive Musk’s money are “not actually chosen at random,” citing two winners who happened to live near, and attended, two pro-Trump rallies.
Musk and America PAC’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some legal experts have said Musk’s giveaway could also potentially violate federal laws against paying people to vote or register to vote. Others say he is in the clear because people are only required to sign a petition to enter.
Krasner’s lawsuit was brought in a Pennsylvania state court and does not allege the giveaway violates federal law.
The U.S. Department of Justice warned America PAC the giveaway could violate federal law, multiple news outlets reported last week, although federal prosecutors have not taken any action publicly.
Musk, ranked by Forbes as the world’s richest person, has so far given nearly $120 million to America PAC, according to federal disclosures, making the group a crucial part of Trump’s bid to regain the White House.
The entrepreneur has increasingly supported Republican causes and this year became an outspoken Trump supporter.
Trump in turn has said that if elected, he would appoint Musk to head a government efficiency commission.
(Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Tom Hogue and Lisa Shumaker)
