Philadelphia– The judge overseeing the lawsuit against Elon Musk and giving away his $1 million to registered voters who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments has extended a hearing on the case to 10 a.m. Thursday, according to a new , It has been extended from Friday. order.
The order from Philadelphia Judge Angelo Foglietta states that “all parties must appear.”
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Matthew Haverstick, one of several lawyers representing the defendants, declined to say late Wednesday whether Musk would attend the hearing.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a lawsuit against Musk to stop the America PAC sweepstakes.
The sweepstakes is open to people in battleground states who sign a petition supporting the Constitution.
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Krasner has said he may still consider criminal charges, saying he is tasked with protecting the public from both illegal lotteries and “interference with the integrity of the election.”
Election law experts have raised questions about whether this violates federal law prohibiting anyone from paying others to vote. Musk has given this amount as a reward as well as earnings for his work as a spokesperson for the group.
In the lawsuit, Krasner said America PAC and Musk “are unquestionably violating Pennsylvania's statutory prohibitions against illegal lotteries and defrauding consumers.”
The Philadelphia DA has also asked the judge overseeing the case to “increase his security” for the upcoming hearing.
Krasner said Musk's posts about the case on
Your voice, your vote. Check out 6abc's Pennsylvania Voter Guide
According to the filing, one account was “inviting political violence” and had posted Krasner's home address.
“These posts, which are indisputably criminal… and continue to be posted today, on Musk's X website,” the filing said.
Another post read, “Krasner loves visitors. Wear a mask and leave all cellphones at home,” according to the filing.
“The instructions to 'mask up' and 'leave all cellphones at home' are meant to prevent identification of illegal actors by video, eyewitnesses, and cellphone geolocation,” the filing reads.
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Federal law excludes any person who “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment to vote or to register to vote.” This includes a fine of not more than $10,000 or a prison sentence of up to 5 years.
Several experts ABC News spoke to in the wake of Musk's gift announcement said it rested on a gray area of the law.
“I've gone back and forth on this,” Richard Briffault, a law professor at Columbia University Law School, told ABC News. “It clearly violates the spirit of the law, but it's not 100% clear to me that it violates the letter of the law.”
Other experts, such as Doug Spencer, an election law professor at the University of Colorado, said, “It seems like it really crossed the line.”
Both Trump and Harris have visited the state repeatedly as they fight for Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes.
Musk, who founded SpaceX and Tesla and owns X, has attacked Trump in this election, saying he thinks civilization is at stake if he loses. He is making most of his efforts to get out the vote for Trump through his super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money.
He has pledged more than $70 million to a super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.
Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to ABC News for comment.
The AP and ABC News' Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.
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