Elon Musk requested a US pass judgement on on Friday to throw out a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit accusing him of working a pyramid scheme to toughen the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
In a night submitting in Manhattan federal courtroom, legal professionals for Musk and his electrical automotive corporate Tesla Inc referred to as the lawsuit via Dogecoin buyers a “fancy work of fiction” over Musk’s “innocuous and often silly tweets” about Dogecoin.
The legal professionals mentioned the buyers by no means defined how Musk supposed to defraud someone or what dangers he hid, and that his statements corresponding to “Dogecoin Rulz” and “no highs, no lows, only Doge” have been too obscure to toughen a fraud declare.
“There is nothing illegal about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion,” Musk’s legal professionals mentioned. “This court should put a stop to plaintiffs’ fantasy and dismiss the complaint.”
In a footnote, the legal professionals additionally rejected the buyers’ declare that Dogecoin certified as a safety.
The buyers’ lawyer, Evan Spencer, mentioned in an e-mail: “We are more confident than ever that our case will be successful.”
Investors accused Musk, the arena’s second-richest particular person consistent with Forbes, of intentionally riding up Dogecoin’s worth via greater than 36,000% over two years after which letting it crash.
They mentioned this generated billions of greenbacks of benefit at different Dogecoin buyers’ expense, whilst Musk knew the foreign money lacked intrinsic worth.
Investors additionally pointed to Musk’s look on a “Weekend Update” section of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” the place, portraying a fictitious monetary knowledgeable, he referred to as Dogecoin “a hustle.”
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The $258 billion damages determine is triple the estimated decline in Dogecoin’s marketplace worth within the 13 months earlier than the lawsuit was once filed.
The Dogecoin Foundation, a nonprofit, could also be a defendant and is looking for the lawsuit’s dismissal.
Musk’s posts on Twitter, which he owns, have triggered a couple of court cases.
He gained a courtroom victory on Feb. 3 when a San Francisco jury discovered him no longer answerable for tweeting in August 2018 that he had organized financing to take Tesla non-public.
The case is Johnson et al v. Musk et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05037.