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Musk Loses Bid to Send Voter Sweepstakes Case to US Court

Chris Dolmetsch

1 November 2024 at 6:59 pm·2-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk lost a bid to move a lawsuit challenging his daily million-dollar giveaway to voters to federal court, putting the lawsuit filed by a progressive Philadelphia district attorney back in front of a state court judge.

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US District Judge Gerald J. Pappart said in a ruling Friday that there was no issue of federal law involved in the case filed by District Attorney Larry Krasner, which says the sweepstakes violates state lottery and consumer protection laws. After the ruling, a hearing was scheduled in state court for Monday morning, and Musk filed a motion asking that he be excused from attending in person.

While the ruling is ostensibly a defeat for Musk, the world’s richest man and one of former President Donald Trump’s biggest backers, it leaves Krasner with little time to halt the sweepstakes before the Nov. 5 election.

Musk’s pro-Trump America PAC has been giving away $1 million every day until Election Day to a randomly selected registered voter who signs a petition calling for free speech and the right to bear arms. The contest doesn’t specify which candidate voters should choose, but Musk has become a famous champion of Trump — on his social media platform X and elsewhere — and the contest features photographs of Musk handing winners oversize checks.

Krasner sued Musk over the sweepstakes, but a hearing in state court Thursday was halted while Musk tried to get the matter before a federal judge.

Krasner’s office said they were waiting for the state court to schedule a hearing in the case after the failure of Musk’s “eleventh-hour effort” to transfer the matter to federal court.

Matthew Haverstick, a lawyer for Musk, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the decision.

(Adds new hearing date in second paragraph.)

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