Bid to shut down Musk’s US$1 million sweepstakes moves to US federal court

A Pennsylvania prosecutor’s effort to shut down Elon Musk’s US$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 his client was an extremely busy man who could not simply “materialise” 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 organisation, which aims to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

With the US election less than a week away, Pennsylvania has found itself ground zero for lawsuits and claims about irregularities or fraud swirling around registration forms, mail ballot applications and access to the polls.