Elon Musk Asks Judge to Toss Out Dogecoin-Centered Lawsuit
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At the time of writing, South African billionaire and entrepreneur Elon Musk – the man who brought companies like Tesla and SpaceX to the forefront – is currently trapped in the middle of a $258 billion lawsuit centering on his promotion of digital currencies like Dogecoin.
Elon Musk Requests Dismissal of Court Case
Musk is now asking the judge overseeing the case to toss it out. The lawsuit stems from a group of defendants that invested in Dogecoin last year following heavy promotion and praise from Musk, who’s had a lot of nice things to say about Dogecoin in the past. Not long ago, he referred to the asset as “the people’s crypto.”
Sadly, 2022 was marred by a heavy bear run that saw many digital currencies drop into the doldrums and lose 70 percent or more of their values. Bitcoin, for example, was trading at a new all-time high of about $68,000 per unit in November of 2021, though 12 months later, it had fallen into the $16,000 range. It was a sad and ugly sight to see.
Dogecoin also suffered heavily during this time, and many people lost all their money after making investments in the popular meme currency co-invented by Jackson Palmer. They are now suing Musk, saying he’s responsible for their losses and that they never would have invested in the asset had they not seen Musk praise it so much.
Over the past few weeks, Dogecoin has jumped up in price by about ten percent. In a statement, lawyers for Musk said there’s no base to the lawsuit, as their client did not force anyone to engage in crypto trading. They commented:
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 put a stop to [the] plaintiffs’ fantasy and dismiss the complaint.
At first glance, this appears like a one-and-done case that will be dismissed outright. After all, what Musk’s lawyers say is true. It’s not like the South African billionaire held a gun to anyone’s head and said to them, “Either invest in Dogecoin or I pull the trigger.” At the end of the day, there’s certainly sympathy for their losses, but those who invested in Dogecoin chose to do so on their own accord, and they were not forced into action by any outside party.
Nefariously Pumping Up the Price?
Still, lawyers for the defendants are not giving up. A member of the legal team recently said:
We are more confident than ever that our case will be successful.
The lawsuit says Musk is responsible for pumping up the Dogecoin price over the course of two years by about 36,000 percent, then allowing it to crash.
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