PHILADELPHIA – A Pennsylvania prosecutor’s effort to shut down Elon Musk’s Million dollar daily voter draw was moved to federal court Thursday after a state judge let both sides air their grievances in a hearing ignored by the world’s richest man.

Judge Angelo Foglietta agreed that Musk, as a named defendant in the lawsuit filed by District Attorney Larry Krasner, should have attended the hearing in person, but declined to immediately sanction the tech mogul.

Musk’s attorney, Matthew Haverstick, said he is an extremely busy man who could not simply “materialize” in the courtroom hours after the hearing was scheduled. Krasner’s team challenged the idea that the founder of SpaceX he couldn’t make it to Philadelphia, prompting a quick retort from the judge.

“Mr. Lawyer, it’s not going to go into a rocket and land on the building,” Foglietta replied.

The huge gifts to registered voters come from Musk’s political organization, which aims to boost of Donald Trump presidential campaign.

After his lawyers argued that claims of federal election interference were involved, Foglietta suspended the state’s case pending a decision in federal court, where the case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert, a Republican former Pennsylvania attorney general appointed in President Barack Obama’s federal bank. No hearings were immediately scheduled there.

Krasner, a Democrat, wants the case decided in the Democratic-led state court in Philadelphia, where his lawsuit was filed on Monday accused Musk and his PAC of running a dubious lottery in the run-up to Tuesday’s election.

Krasner’s lawyers noted that four of the top dozen winners appeared to be from Pennsylvania, perhaps the key prize in the close presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Is it just a coincidence that this is the state with the most electoral votes? I don’t think so,” argued attorney John Summers.

Posts by Musk’s America PAC on X, the social media platform he acquired, indicate he has given out 13 $1 million checks since the first in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 19. Other winners came from battleground states Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan.

Krasner’s attorneys noted that Musk and America PAC have “eagerly” continued the lottery every day this week, including Thursday morning, despite Krasner’s legal request to shut it down. The lottery is scheduled to run until Election Day, open to people in nearby states who can prove they are registered to vote and sign a petition supporting the Constitution.

“They do things in the dark,” Summers told the judge. “We don’t know the rules that are followed. We don’t know how they’re supposed to pick people at random… It’s a scandal.”

Election law experts have raised questions about the violation of federal law that prohibits someone from paying others to vote. Musk distributed the money as both a prize and earnings for work as the group’s spokesperson.

Krasner said he could still consider criminal charges because he is tasked with protecting both the lotteries and the integrity of elections. In the lawsuit, he said the defendants are “unquestionably in violation” of Pennsylvania’s lottery laws.

Both Trump and Kamala Harris have made repeated visits to the state as they battle for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.

Musk, who also owns adze and X, took it all in on Trump in this election, saying he thinks civilization is at stake. He’s doing much of his get-out-the-vote effort for Trump through his super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money.

It was committed over $70 million to super PACs to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.