Investors have filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court alleging that Elon Musk used his influence on the Internet to manipulate the exchange rate of the meme cryptocurrency DOGE. In particular, Musk tweeted and used influencers to promote Dogecoin, and appeared on NBC’s Saturday Night Live in 2021, the plaintiffs allege. These “publicity gimmicks” allowed Musk to profitably trade DOGE coins.
The plaintiffs added that in April, Elon Musk, the owner of the social network Twitter, replaced its blue bird logo with an image of a Shiba Inu dog. This led to a 25% jump in the DOGE rate, as a result of which Musk sold these coins in the amount of $124 million, the investors said in a statement. They believe that Musk did it on purpose, for the sake of manipulating the market in his own interests.
Investors asked the court to make these amendments to the class-action lawsuit that was originally filed against Elon Musk in June 2022. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said he could amend the complaint, believing it would not be prejudicial to the defendants.
Elon Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro declined to comment. Earlier this year, Musk’s defense already went to court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Dogecoin investors, calling it a bizarre fiction.
Source: Bits
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