Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX were sued for $258 billion by a Dogecoin investor named Keith Johnson. Musk is accused of running a pyramid scheme to boost the value of Dogecoin.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, New York, Johnson accused Musk, Tesla and SpaceX of fraud by promoting Dogecoin to a high value, but then allowing its price to plummet.
Musk does often mention Dogecoin in his tweets on Twitter, which sometimes makes the value of the crypto token jump instantly. The plaintiffs also used the tweet and Musk's frequent mention of himself as the 'Dogefather' as evidence that he controlled Dogecoin.
"The defendant realized since 2019 that Dogecoin has no value but continued to promote Dogecoin to profit from its trade," the lawsuit reads, as quoted by Reuters, Friday (16/6/2022).
"Musk used his position as the richest man in the world to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure and entertainment."
The lawsuit also garnered comments from Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and others who questioned and criticized the value of cryptocurrencies.
Currently the crypto market is in disarray, marked by the drop in the price of bitcoin and other crypto assets. Likewise with Dogecoin which reached a value of USD 0.74 at its peak but recently fell to a level of USD 0.05.
Johnson is seeking $86 billion in damages, following the decline in Dogecoin's market value since May 2021, and he wants that number to be multiplied by three. He also wants Musk and his company to stop promoting Dogecoin and for a judge to declare Dogecoin trading a form of gambling.