Elon Musk’s legal team has requested the dismissal of a $258 billion lawsuit filed against him by Dogecoin investors who accused him of promoting the cryptocurrency through a pyramid scheme.
Elon Musk has become a household name for anyone with even a passing interest in cryptocurrencies. The business tycoon is known as the most influential Dogecoin advocate and has been shaking up the cryptocurrency industry with his funny tweets with over 100 million Twitter followers.
Last year, a lawsuit was filed against Elon Musk, SpaceX, and Tesla Inc. alleging their involvement in a racketeering scheme to support the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin, seeking damages of $258 billion. As of April 1, 2023, Reuters reported that Elon Musk and his legal team have filed a request to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Dogecoin investors.
The plaintiffs cited Musk’s actions during his appearance on Saturday Night Live in 2021, during which he played a “fictitious financial expert” and referred to Dogecoin as “a hustle,” causing the price of DOGE to drop sharply just minutes after the show.
Musk’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in Manhattan’s federal court on March 31, 2023. The legal team referred to the lawsuit as a “fanciful work of fiction” and argued that Musk’s social media comments in support of Dogecoin were “too vague” to be considered fraudulent.
The lawyers claimed that there was nothing illegal about tweeting support for a legitimate cryptocurrency with a market cap of nearly $10 billion, and referred to Musk’s comments as “innocuous and often silly tweets.”
The plaintiffs had alleged that Musk had driven up the price of Dogecoin by more than 36,000% over two years before allowing it to crash, and had used his status as the world’s richest man to manipulate the cryptocurrency in a pyramid scheme.
Despite Musk’s efforts to reignite interest in Dogecoin, including tweets about working with “Doge devs” to improve the cryptocurrency’s efficiency and promises not to sell his own holdings during a market crash, the investors remain confident in their case.
Evan Spencer, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, stated in an email that they are “more confident than ever that our case will be successful.” The outcome of the case remains to be seen, but it is clear that the controversy surrounding Musk’s involvement with Dogecoin will continue to be a topic of debate in the cryptocurrency community.