Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Attorneys for billionaire Elon Musk filed a "motion of removal" in federal court Wednesday night trying to prevent his appearance in the Philadelphia court on Thursday over district attorney Larry Krasner's illegal lottery complaint.
Musk asked that Krasner's lawsuit be moved to federal court, charging it has more to do with violation of federal law in the presidential election than state law.
A Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas judge had ordered Musk to appear in front of him Thursday for a hearing in Krasner's case against his $1 million sweepstakes his America Political Action Committee, which supports former President Donald Trump.
The $1 million winners are selected from registered voters in battleground states who sign a pledge to support the Constitution.
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"The [Krasner] complaint, in truth, has little to do with state law claims of nuisance and consumer protection," Musk said in the lawsuit, according to CNN. "Rather, although disguised as state law claims, the complaint's focus is to prevent defendants' purported 'interference' with the forthcoming federal presidential election by any means."
Musk said Krasner's complaints can only be resolved in federal court.
The Philadelphia hearing started at 10 a.m. but Musk did not attend as required. It was not clear how the court plans to proceed.
Krasner said that since the court filing on Monday, he has received "an avalanche" of negative social media posts from his followers, much of it anti-Semitic.
"America PAC and Musk hatched their illegal lottery scheme to influence voters in that election," Krasner's attorneys said in court filings, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Philadelphia district attorney argued that Musk and America PAC broke the state's consumer protection laws by not displaying lottery rules or how the personal information of participants was protected.
Musk said the sweepstakes is focused on signing a petition that supports the U.S. Constitution and not advocating for any candidate or used as an inducement, which makes it legal.
The sweepstakes, however, is targeted to voters in battleground states, including Pennsylvania.
The Keystone State is considered the grand prize of the battleground states with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris needing it in most scenarios to win the presidency.
