© 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 working a pyramid scheme to assist the cryptocurrency .
In a night submitting in Manhattan federal court docket, legal professionals for Musk and his electrical automotive firm Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc referred to as the lawsuit by Dogecoin traders a “fanciful work of fiction” over Musk’s “innocuous and infrequently foolish tweets” about Dogecoin.
The legal professionals stated the traders by no means defined how Musk meant to defraud anybody or what dangers he hid, and that his statements equivalent to “Dogecoin Rulz” and “no highs, no lows, solely Doge” have been too imprecise to assist a fraud declare.
“There may be nothing illegal about tweeting phrases of assist for, or humorous photos about, a official cryptocurrency that continues to carry a market cap of practically $10 billion,” Musk’s legal professionals stated. “This court docket ought to put a cease to plaintiffs’ fantasy and dismiss the grievance.”
In a footnote, the legal professionals additionally rejected the traders’ declare that Dogecoin certified as a safety.
The traders’ lawyer, Evan Spencer, stated in an electronic mail: “We’re extra assured than ever that our case shall be profitable.”
Buyers accused Musk, the world’s second-richest individual in line with Forbes, of intentionally driving up Dogecoin’s worth greater than 36,000% over two years after which letting it crash.
They stated this generated billions of {dollars} of revenue at different Dogecoin traders’ expense, at the same time as Musk knew the foreign money lacked intrinsic worth.
Buyers additionally pointed to Musk’s look on a “Weekend Replace” section of NBC’s “Saturday Night time Dwell” the place, portraying a fictitious monetary skilled, 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 court docket victory on Feb. 3 when a San Francisco jury discovered him not accountable 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 Courtroom, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05037.