Elon Musk was called to a special court hearing on Thursday over $1 million prizes he gave to registered voters in battleground states.
The suit accuses Musk of running an illegal lottery and trying to influence voters in next week’s presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Musk and his PAC are supporting Republican candidate Trump.
The controversial billionaire has pledged to donate $1 million (£767,000) a day to registered voters in battleground states who sign online petitions calling for free speech and gun rights.
The first million was presented to a man named John Dreher during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on October 19.
Musk is the richest man in the world, with a fortune of $274 billion (£210 billion), according to Forbes, so the roughly $17 million (£13 million) he pledged to donate is only a fraction of his net worth.
The 53-year-old had donated $75 million (£58 million) to American PAC as of mid-October.
Documents filed by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner also show that the lawsuit against Musk has triggered “an avalanche of (social media) posts from Musk’s supporters”, many of which “launched anti-Semitic attacks against Mr. Krasner”. After a user on
X published Krasner’s home address, his lawyers called for increased security measures for the hearing, originally scheduled for Friday.
America PAC is one of several major political action committees in the United States.
Such groups can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in support of political candidates, as long as they don’t coordinate with or fund campaigns.
Trump has said he would offer Musk a government job if he becomes president again.