© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A photograph of Elon Musk is displayed on a smartphone positioned on representations of cryptocurrency Dogecoin on this illustration taken June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Elon Musk requested a U.S. decide on Friday to throw out a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit accusing him of operating a pyramid scheme to help the cryptocurrency .
In a night submitting in Manhattan federal courtroom, attorneys for Musk and his electrical automotive firm Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc referred to as the lawsuit by Dogecoin buyers a “fanciful work of fiction” over Musk’s “innocuous and sometimes foolish tweets” about Dogecoin.
The attorneys mentioned the buyers by no means defined how Musk meant to defraud anybody or what dangers he hid, and that his statements similar to “Dogecoin Rulz” and “no highs, no lows, solely Doge” had been too imprecise to help a fraud declare.
“There may be nothing illegal about tweeting phrases of help for, or humorous photos about, a authentic cryptocurrency that continues to carry a market cap of almost $10 billion,” Musk’s attorneys mentioned. “This courtroom ought to put a cease to plaintiffs’ fantasy and dismiss the criticism.”
In a footnote, the attorneys additionally rejected the buyers’ declare that Dogecoin certified as a safety.
The buyers’ lawyer, Evan Spencer, mentioned in an electronic mail: “We’re extra assured than ever that our case will likely be profitable.”
Traders accused Musk, the world’s second-richest individual in keeping with Forbes, of intentionally driving up Dogecoin’s value greater than 36,000% over two years after which letting it crash.
They mentioned this generated billions of {dollars} of revenue at different Dogecoin buyers’ expense, at the same time as Musk knew the forex lacked intrinsic worth.
Traders additionally pointed to Musk’s look on a “Weekend Replace” section of NBC’s “Saturday Evening Stay” the place, portraying a fictitious monetary knowledgeable, he referred to as Dogecoin “a hustle.”
The $258 billion damages determine is triple the estimated decline in Dogecoin’s market worth within the 13 months earlier than the lawsuit was filed.
Dogecoin Basis, a nonprofit, can be a defendant and looking for the lawsuit’s dismissal.
Musk’s posts on Twitter, which he owns, have prompted a number of lawsuits.
He received a courtroom victory on Feb. 3 when a San Francisco jury discovered him not chargeable for tweeting in August 2018 that he had organized financing to take Tesla personal.
The case is Johnson et al v. Musk et al, U.S. District Court docket, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05037.
