Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk have asked a US judge to dismiss a $258 billion lawsuit filed by dogecoin investors. They alleged that the billionaires operated a Ponzi scheme to promote the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin.” Musk’s lawyers argued that “it is not illegal to tweet words or funny pictures in support of a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market capitalization of nearly $10 billion.
Elon Musk asks court to dismiss lawsuit by Dogecoin investors
Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk asked a U.S. judge Friday to dismiss a $258 billion lawsuit alleging he ran a pyramid scheme to promote the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin (DOGE). The lawsuit, Johnson et al v. Musk et al, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that Musk and his companies, Tesla and Spacex, “falsely and fraudulently claim dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has absolutely no value.”
In a formal request filed Friday, Mr. Musk’s lawyers described the lawsuit filed by dogecoin investors as a “fictional work” about Mr. Musk’s “innocuous and often ridiculous tweets” about the meme cryptocurrency. They argued that the investors failed to reveal how Mr. Musk intended to deceive anyone or what risks he was hiding. They also argued that the Tesla CEO’s comments (“Dogecoin Rulz” and “no highs, no lows, only Doge”) were too vague to support the fraud allegations.
Musk’s attorney elaborated:
It is not illegal to tweet words or funny pictures in support of a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion… This court should put a stop to plaintiffs’ fantasies and dismiss the complaint.”
Musk’s lawyers also challenged Dogeco investors’ claim that dogecoin met the criteria for being classified as a security. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has stated in several interviews that all crypto tokens, with the exception of Bitcoin, are securities, although many have argued that his opinion is not the law.
Nevertheless, attorney Evan Spencer, who represents dogecoin investors, stated in an email: “I am more confident than ever that our trial will be successful.”
According to investors, Musk increased the value of dogecoin by more than 36,000% in two years, then crashed it. Despite Mask’s recognition that the meme cryptocurrency had no intrinsic value, he claims to have profited billions of dollars while other dogecoin investors suffered. In addition, the investors cited Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, where he played a fictional financial expert and referred to dogecoin as a “hustle.”
Despite the lawsuit, Tesla and Twitter bosses confirmed that they would continue to purchase and support Dogecoin. Mr. Musk is known in the dogecoin community as Dogefather. His electric car company, Tesla, accepts meme crypto on some of its products, and earlier this year reaffirmed that it would eat McDonald’s Happy Meals on TV if the fast food chain would accept dogecoin payments.
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