Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, June 17: A Dogecoin investor sued Tesla Inc and SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk for $258 billion (approximately Rs. 20,13,831 crore), accusing him of conducting a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency, according to Reuters.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, complainant Keith Johnson accused Musk, Tesla, and SpaceX of racketeering for promoting Dogecoin and inflating its price, only to see it plummet.
“Defendants were aware since 2019 that Dogecoin had no value yet promoted Dogecoin to profit from its trading,” the complaint said. “Musk used his pedestal as World’s richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure and amusement.”
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and others have questioned the worth of Bitcoin, according to the complaint.
Reuters’ requests for comment from Tesla, SpaceX, and Musk’s lawyer were not immediately returned.
Johnson’s lawyer did not respond to inquiries for comment on what particular proof his client has or expects to have that indicates Dogecoin is worthless and the defendants ran a pyramid scheme.
Johnson is seeking $86 billion in damages (roughly Rs. 6,71,265 crore) for the decline in Dogecoin’s market value since May 2021, which he claims should be tripled.
He also wants a judge to rule that trading Dogecoin constitutes gambling under federal and New York law, and to stop Musk and his companies from promoting it.
According to the complaint, Dogecoin’s selloff began around the time Musk hosted the NBC show “Saturday Night Live” and called Dogecoin “a hustle” while playing a fictitious financial expert on a “Weekend Update” segment.
Tesla announced in February 2021 that it has purchased $1.5 billion (approximately Rs. 11,708 crores) in Bitcoin and would accept it as payment for vehicles for a limited time.
On Thursday, Dogecoin was trading at around 5.8 cents (approximately Rs. 0.7), down from its top of almost 74 cents in May 2021. (roughly Rs. 8.75).
