Elon Musk is being sued for pumping Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that was launched eight years ago as a joke but ended up making some owners rich during the previous bull run thanks to the SpaceX and Tesla CEO’s repeated shilling of the coin over social media. The lawsuit comes courtesy of plaintiff Keith Johnson, who has alleged Musk, SpaceX, and Tesla of taking part in a pyramid scheme, one that was designed to trick investors into buying a coin that has lost tremendous value since its all-time high of around 68 cents in May last year. Johnson is asking for $86 billion in damages, triple damages of $172 billion, an order blocking Musk and his companies from promoting Dogecoin, and a declaration that Dogecoin trading constitutes gambling under U.S. and New York law.
Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla are being sued for $258 billion over claims they are part of a racketeering scheme to back the cryptocurrency Dogecoin https://t.co/A8FO0IlEm2
— Bloomberg (@business) June 16, 2022
Keith Johnson, “an American citizen who was defrauded out of money by defendants’ Dogecoin Crypto Pyramid Scheme,” sued Musk and his companies, claiming they constitute an illegal racketeering enterprise to inflate Dogecoin’s price.
“Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that Dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all,” Johnson said in his complaint, filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan.
Dogecoin was trading on Thursday at about 5 cents and is down about 67% this year. It spiked to as high as 74 cents last year before giving up those gains.
Source: Bloomberg