Keith Johnson, a U.S. investor in the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, has filed a US$258 billion class-action lawsuit against Elon Musk and two of the companies he heads, alleging illegal behavior to manipulate the memecoin’s price.
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Fast facts
- The lawsuit alleges: “Since Defendant Musk and his corporations began purchasing, developing, promoting, supporting, and operating Dogecoin in 2019, Plaintiff and the class have lost approximately $86 billion in this Crypto Pyramid Scheme.”
- The lawsuit seeks total damages of US$258 billion, or triple the stated alleged losses. Tesla, Inc. and SpaceX are the two Musk companies named in the suit.
- The memecoin has fallen more than 92% from an all-time high of US$0.7376 a year ago.
- “It’s simply a fraud whereby greater fools are deceived into buying the coin at a higher price,” reads the lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. federal court in New York.
- The lawsuit requests that Musk and his companies be barred from promoting Dogecoin, as well as a ruling from the court that declares trading in Dogecoin is like gambling under U.S. and New York law.
- As of publication, neither Musk nor his companies had responded on Twitter to the filing of the lawsuit.
- Dogecoin fell about 7% to US$0.0567 in Asian morning trade, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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