Elon Musk ordered to attend Philadelphia court hearing over $1 million giveaway to voters

Billionaire Elon Musk has been ordered to attend a Philadelphia court hearing on Thursday after he was sued by District Attorney Larry Krasner over his $1 million giveaway to voters.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in a courtroom at City Hall in Center City, according to a court document. 

Last week, Krasner sued Musk and alleged that Musk and his super PAC are trying to influence voters in next week’s presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

“The Philadelphia District Attorney is charged with protecting the public from public nuisances and unfair trade practices, including illegal lotteries. The DA is also charged with protecting the public from interference with the integrity of elections,” Krasner said in a statement announcing the complaint last week. 

Musk, who founded Tesla and SpaceX, has thrown his full support behind former President Donald Trump in his run for a second term in the White House. Nearly two weeks ago, he vowed to hand out $1 million a day until Election Day on Nov. 5 to voters who signed his PAC’s petition supporting the First Amendment and Second Amendment of the Constitution. 

Some experts have questioned the legality of Musk’s actions to give voters $1 million.

“The actions that we’re seeing … it violates federal law pretty clearly. Actually, I don’t think it’s a particularly close call,” Adav Noti, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, told CBS News last week. 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also questioned Musk’s giveaway. 

“I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last week. 

Musk has been very active in supporting Trump in Pennsylvania, one of the key battleground states in the election. He was in the Philadelphia area for a town hall on Oct. 17 calling on Pennsylvanians to get registered to vote. 

At the town hall in Ridley High School in Delaware County, Musk called Pennsylvania “linchpin” for the 2024 election.

“I’m here for a very important reason, which is – I can’t emphasize this enough – Pennsylvania, I think, is the linchpin in this election,” Musk said at the time. “This election, I think, is going to decide the fate of America, and along with the fate of America, the fate of Western civilization.”