Elon Musk wins court case over $1million daily handouts to voters

Elon Musk’s controversial daily $1 million handouts to voters continued yesterday after he secured a court victory against Democrats who claim the sweepstake is illegal.

Pennsylvania District Attorney Larry Krasner, an elected Democrat, sued Musk and his pro-Trump fundraising committee alleging a breach of lottery laws.

But Judge Angelo Foglietta moved the case to a federal court - likely delaying it until after the election and so allowing the handouts to continue.

The decision marked a success for Mr Musk, who faced being told to halt the giveaways, and came even though he ignored the judge’s demand that he attend the hearing. His refusal to attend risked a charge of contempt of court, but Judge Foglietta decided not to sanction him.

Mr Musk has been giving $1 million checks to randomly selected people who sign a petition pledging support for free speech and gun rights. The petition is ostensibly open to all voters, but the petition centres on issues prioritised by Republicans.

The offer is limited to registered voters in one of seven states that will likely decide the outcome of the election - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

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Critics have claimed the move is a breach of election law. The case brought by Mr Krasner said it is an ‘illegal lottery scheme to influence voters’.

Musk’s lawyer, Matthew Haverstick, said yesterday that Mr Musk is an extremely busy man who could not simply ‘materialize’ in the courtroom hours after the hearing was scheduled on Wednesday.

Prosecutor John Summers said the owner of the SpaceX rocket company could easily show up if he was inclined to do so.

But the judge drew laughter in court as he responded: ‘Counsel, he’s not going to get in a rocket ship and land on the building.

‘He’s not going to get in a rocket ship and take it to Philadelphia - let’s be serious here.’

He moved the case to a federal court after Mr Musk’s lawyers argued that the case involves claims of federal election interference which can only be heard at a higher court.

Musk, 53, who also owns X, formerly Twitter, has thrown his millions, time and considerable influence into backing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump since endorsing him in July.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has reportedly donated $118 million to his political action committee, an organisation which collects funds for elections.