Elon Musk’s legal team delays possible ruling on $1 million giveaways with filing in federal court

PHILADELPHIA — Elon Musk’s legal team filed court papers Thursday that postponed a possible ruling on a lawsuit over his super PAC’s $1 million lottery-like giveaways.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has filed a lawsuit about the contest Monday in state court, but late Wednesday lawyers for Musk and his America PAC papers filed in federal court to move the case there, arguing that federal law — not state law — was central to the case.

John Summers, an attorney representing Krasner, described the development as “cowardly and irresponsible” during a brief hearing in state court Thursday morning.

Matthew Haverstick, an attorney representing Musk and the super PAC, defended the substantive merits of their actions. He said their notice of removal was properly filed.

The filing in federal court automatically blocked any immediate action in state court, where Judge Angelo Foglietta had already scheduled Thursday’s hearing. Foglietta went ahead with the hearing but acknowledged that the federal filing had stripped him of jurisdiction to hear arguments.

The timing of further action was uncertain as of Thursday afternoon. In federal court, the case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Jerry Pappert, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, and the federal docket had no rulings or scheduled hearings.

Krasner has tried to take swift action in the case, arguing that Musk and his super PAC are running an illegal lottery that’s against state law, but the end of the contest is quickly approaching and the final day winner of $1 million is scheduled for Tuesday.

America PAC say it has awarded $1 million in prizes to 13 people in the past two weeks. To be eligible to win, people must be registered voters in one of the seven battleground states and sign a petition pledging support for the First and Second Amendments.

Summers said he planned to argue in federal court to have the case sent back to state court.

“We will go to federal court, and we will discuss the issues there and try to refer the case back to state court,” he told reporters outside the courtroom on Thursday. He said it is a case “that involves constitutional issues.”

Summers noted that Musk did not appear in person for the hearing.

“This morning, District Attorney Krasner was here to testify. Elon Musk didn’t show up,” he said.

Musk’s private jet was in Austin, Texas, early Thursday morning, the American newspaper said Elon Jet account on Bluesky, which publishes aggregated flight data.

During Thursday’s brief hearing, Summers highlighted Musk’s retweet of an X-post in which he called Foglietta a “left-wing judge,” which the judge said he dismissed as “irrelevant.”

Foglietta said he would not comment on the implications of Musk’s inability to appear in person at the hearing unless and until a federal judge sends the case back to state court. Musk’s lawyers were present at the hearing.

Haverstick dismissed his client’s absence, saying Musk is a busy man who can’t “materialize” on 12 hours’ notice, and that he was only added as a defendant in the case as a “publicity stunt.”

Summers pushed back on the idea that Musk was too busy to appear, citing Musk’s wealth, resources and ownership of SpaceX — prompting Foglietta to interrupt him.

“He’s not going to land a rocket on the building,” the judge said. “Let’s be serious.”

“If anyone could land a rocket in Philadelphia, it’s Elon Musk,” Summers responded.

Summers also took issue with the idea that the district attorney charged Musk as a publicity stunt, saying that nothing in the case was a publicity stunt aside from Musk’s “weird” meetings.

Summers also questioned whether the America PAC pays lottery winners, saying there is no sign of the payouts in the super PAC’s spending reports. The super PAC said on X that it has at least paid out money to the original winners.

Haverstick declined to respond to most of Summers’ comments during the hearing, saying Summers spoke about issues that were not at issue.

Krasner’s lawsuit, by focusing on Pennsylvania’s regulation of lotteries, sidestepped the question of whether the $1 million giveaway violates laws against vote buying or paying people to register to vote. The US Department of Justice and several legal experts had warned about Musk’s fight could violate these election laws.

David Ingram reported from San Francisco and Daniel Barnes from Philadelphia.