Key Insights
- Elon Musk’s lawyers implored a U.S. judge to dismiss a $258 billion Dogecoin racketeering lawsuit against him by DOGE investors.
- They said investors should have outlined how Musk planned to trick anyone.
- DOGE’s price has increased by 10% since the lawsuit.
Elon Musk – and his lawyers – asked a U.S. judge to dismiss a racketeering lawsuit, levied against him by investors, alleging he orchestrated a pyramid scheme to back the meme crypto, Dogecoin (DOGE). The tech billionaire was sued in a $258 billion lawsuit in June 2022, where investors alleged that Musk championed a fraudulent investment platform with DOGE.
Elon Musk tries to DOGE the lawsuit
Musk’s lawyers described the lawsuit against him as a “fanciful work of fiction” due to his “innocuous and often silly tweets” about Dogecoin. For example, he tweeted about it being the payment mode for some Tesla products and promoted it several times on Twitter.
They said the investors of DOGE never divulged how Musk planned to defraud anyone or what risks he hid. Also, his statements like “Dogecoin Rulz” and “no highs, no lows, only Doge” were too indeterminate to maintain a fraud allegation. “There is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion. This court should stop the plaintiffs’ fantasy and dismiss the complaint.” Additionally, the lawyers disapproved of the investors’ claim that DOGE is a security.
The investors, however, alleged that Musk intentionally manipulated DOGE’s price using his celebrity status, drove it up by more than 36,000% over two years, and then let it tumble. Consequently, this act created billions of dollars of gain for him, but at their loss, with Musk knowing that the coin didn’t possess substantial value. Hence, the lawsuit.
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They pointed to his cheeky yet impactfully controversial tweets about DOGE, implying that his words motivated them to put money into the coin, only to be dealt with losses when its value nose-dived. There was also an incident where he was present on a “Weekend Update” segment of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and called DOGE “a hustle” while depicting a made-up financial analyst.
Elon Musk’s lawyers have laughed off these allegations as pure fiction and solicited the judge to dismiss them. Nonetheless, the investors’ lawyer remains assured of a victory.
While the allegations are yet to be proven true without reasonable doubt, this smoke did not come about without any fire.
Elon Musk’s controversy with Crypto
Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest and most influential men and owner of the popular social media network Twitter, has made many controversial tweets that directly or indirectly affected crypto.
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In 2021, he made a statement about Tesla deciding not to utilize BTC for payment anymore. This made its price drop from $54,819 to $45,700. Before his infamous tweets promoting DOGE, it was a meme coin.
Now, it is the eighth most valuable crypto in the world, with about $10.85 billion. When he made a positive DOGE tweet sometime in 2021, it got 1 million likes on Twitter, and the crypto rose by 60%. Conversely, after the Saturday Night Live spectacle, it fell by more than 25% not long after. Now, DOGE’s price has also risen by 10% due to this lawsuit.
It is clear that Musk is a major crypto influencer, and his words carry weight. Therefore, crypto enthusiasts and investors would watch keenly to see how this lawsuit develops.
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Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information but will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.
