Elon Musk failed to appear in an emergency court hearing today over a lawsuit from Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, according to a Pennsylvania judge’s order yesterday. The lawsuit is related to a lottery that Musk announced at a Trump rally on October 19th, explaining to an audience in Harrisburg, PA that the pool of potential prize-winners would be registered voters who had signed America PAC’s petition, and that a new winner would be chosen “every day until the election.” Tesla’s CEO is one of GOP nominee Donald Trump’s most significant donors, having given more than $100 million to the campaign through America PAC, a political action committee he founded earlier this year.
Krasner’s lawsuit accuses the Silicon Valley financier of operating an illegal lottery and trying to influence voters in the upcoming presidential election, calling his practices “deceptive.” Krasner points out that Musk and America PAC have not published any clear rules or indicated how participants’ information would be protected. The lawsuit also alleges that that selection of winners is not “random” as Musk claims, as they are always “individuals who have shown up at Trump rallies in Pennsylvania.”
Lawyers for Krasner asked for enhanced security at the hearing, since after the suit was filed on Monday, the Philadelphia DA has received threats from fans of Musk on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which he now owns. One published Krasner’s home address and wrote “Krasner loves visitors. Mask up and leave all cellphones at home.” Krasner’s lawyers also asked that the court require the “attendance of all of the parties, i.e., DA Krasner, a representative of America PAC and Mr. Musk.” The Judge overseeing the matter, Anthony Foglietta, granted their request and moved the hearing up one day, after it was originally scheduled for Friday. In his order filed with the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Foglietta wrote that “all parties must be present at the time of the hearing.”
Musk has already refused to comply with government orders to appear in legal proceedings multiple times this year. The Spacex CEO is currently in a battle with the SEC after failing to appear at a deposition related to his purchase of Twitter in 2022, having also skipped two other hearings on the matter earlier this year, claiming he was needed urgently at a rocket launch. Last week he offered to pay for the airfare of the SEC lawyers that flew out to Los Angeles for the deposition, a total of $2,923. Even though Musk eventually provided testimony on October 3rd, The SEC filed court documents seeking sanctions against Musk last Friday, stating that simply paying for the airfare would fail to deter others from disregarding court orders.
