A federal court in Manhattan has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Elon Musk and Tesla Inc. of defrauding investors over cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
Claims
The lawsuit, filed in June 2023, alleged that Musk and Tesla manipulated the Dogecoin market, inflating its value by over 36,000%. The plaintiffs argued that Musk’s social media promotion of Dogecoin and endorsement of it for Tesla merchandise caused the cryptocurrency’s price to spike dramatically.
Court's Ruling
Judge Hellerstein decisively rejected the plaintiffs’ claims. The court determined that Musk’s comments about Dogecoin were not fraudulent but were rather aspirational and promotional. Statements about Dogecoin being the 'future currency of Earth' or being used to buy Teslas were deemed promotional rather than actionable fraud.
Reactions
Elon Musk and Tesla have welcomed the court’s decision, viewing it as a validation of their actions. Musk has previously stated that his comments about Dogecoin were humorous and did not intend to mislead investors.
As a result of the court’s review, the fraud lawsuit against Elon Musk and Tesla was dismissed, affirming the legitimacy of their actions regarding Dogecoin. At the time of writing, Dogecoin is trading at $0.1009 with almost no change over the last 24 hours.
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