Elon Musk and his America PAC are being sued by Philadelphia’s district attorney over the allegation that the PAC’s million-dollar-a-day giveaway constitutes an illegal lottery. Musk was set to appear in court for the case today, but his attorneys argued that he’s too “busy” for trivialities like violations of state law.
Musk’s million-dollar giveaway has come under fire for plenty of legal reasons, but Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner took the illegal lottery route in his suit against Musk and the America PAC. Musk’s lawyers argued that the case should be moved to federal court, and that Musk himself should thus not be compelled to appear in Philadelphia for proceedings. The Washington Post has the details:
In a courtroom with a gaggle of reporters Thursday, defense attorney Matthew Haverstick said Musk is “a very busy man who cannot just materialize anywhere he wants to on 12 hours notice.”
The case now moves to federal court, where Krasner said he will push for it to be speedily remanded to the district court, perhaps as soon as Thursday afternoon.
Krasner filed the lawsuit against Musk’s America PAC last week, alleging a $1 million daily giveaway to registered swing-state voters launched this month is “indisputably an unlawful lottery” under Pennsylvania consumer protection laws.
Arguing that Musk is “busy” may make sense on the surface — the man runs more than his fair share of companies — but it’s tough to justify when you look at how he actually spends his days. Musk has tweeted, retweeted, or replied to tweets over 109 times already today, many of which focused on the upcoming election and Musk’s support of Donald Trump. He’s also been known to play video games during important SpaceX briefings, which is the type of behavior only exhibited by the most dedicated of executives.
Truly, Musk is just so dedicated to all of his jobs that he couldn’t possibly show up for some little court case about whether he’s running an illegal lottery to interfere with swing state elections. The man has priorities.
