Billionaire Elon Musk, who supports Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, was ordered to attend a hearing today in a lawsuit filed by a Philadelphia prosecutor in Pennsylvania who wants to stop his announced distribution of $1 million a day to registered voters in states where the race will be extremely competitive, days before the November 5 US election, Reuters reported.
The BBC reported that Elon Musk has ignored the lawsuit, has not appeared and continues to distribute money to Trump supporters.
The hearing concerns a request by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner to stop Musk's distribution of money less than a week before the contested US presidential election between former President Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, BTA reported.
Krasner has asked the court for additional security for today's hearing, saying that social media users have uploaded an "avalanche" of inflammatory posts, including anti-Semitic attacks against the billionaire, and have published his home address.
At the same time, Musk wants to move the case to federal court in Philadelphia.
In the lawsuit filed there, Musk says that Krasner's interference with basic political freedoms and the claim that he "in a sense is illegally interfering in federal elections" raise important federal legal issues that should be considered by a federal court.
Musk has pledged to give 1 million $1 million per day to randomly selected voters who sign a petition in support of free speech and the right to bear arms.
The requirements for signatories are to be registered voters in one of the seven states that are likely to decide the outcome of the November 5 election - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The billionaire gave the first $1 million to a participant in an election event on October 19, organized by his Political Action Committee for America in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Krasner's lawsuit dated October 28 claims that the announced distribution of $1 million is tantamount to an illegal lottery, unauthorized by the state, which alone has the right to conduct and regulate it. According to the prosecutor's office, Musk and the Political Action Committee for America have not announced clear rules for the giveaway and have not said how they protect voters' personal information.
Krasner also claims that the voters who receive Musk's money "were not actually randomly selected," citing the names of two winners who happened to live nearby and attended two Trump rallies.
Some legal experts say Musk's announced $1 million giveaway could violate federal laws that prohibit paying people to vote or register to vote. Other experts say it is not in violation because voters are only required to sign a petition to participate.
Krasner's lawsuit, filed in state court in Pennsylvania, does not allege that the announced $1 million giveaway Musk's dollar violates federal law.