Elon Musk and his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, are facing a $258 billion lawsuit that accuses the billionaire of allegedly pumping Dogecoin as a part of a racketeering scheme. The lawsuit comes as the larger cryptocurrency market has crashed in recent weeks.
The lawsuit was filed in New York by Keith Johnson, who is described as "an American citizen who was defrauded out of money by defendants’ dogecoin crypto pyramid scheme."
The complaint alleges that “Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that Dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all.".
In addition to the billions being sought in damages, Johnson wants to block Musk, Tesla, and SpaceX from promoting Dogecoin. Additionally, he hopes investing in Dogecoin will be considered akin to gambling under U.S. and New York law.
It describes the cryptocurrency as "simply a fraud whereby 'greater fools' are deceived into buying the coin at a higher price."
The lawsuit also cites a list of Musk's multiple tweets and public statements about Dogecoin and how they've pushed up the price over the last 18 months. Musk has spoken on the record about owning Dogecoin, as well as Bitcoin and Ethereum, all of which are down sharply throughout June.
[Via]
