The U.S. federal judge nullifies the $258 billion lawsuit against Elon Musk, citing a lack of sufficient evidence by the plaintiff.
United States federal judge Alvin Hellerstein has dismissed a massive $258 billion lawsuit against Elon Musk. The lawsuit accused him of artificially inflating the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) through his public praise. The judge defendant’s charge that the defendant’s tweets and statements manipulated the market on Thursday, handing him a major win.
The Dogecoin Manipulation Case
Initially filed in June 2022, the lawsuit underwent four amendments before being updated last year to include insider trading claims. The charge alleged that Elon and Tesla profited from DOGE by timing trades through controlled wallets, citing the instance in April 2023 where Musk sold Dogecoin after swappingTwitter’ss logo with Dogecoin, causing a 30% spike in value.
The plaintiff, representing investors who allegedly suffered financial loss, claimed that Elon’s social media comments led to an $86 billion loss. Seeking triple damages, they requested $258 billion from the court.
The lawsuit also mentioned Musk’s 2021 appearance on Saturday Night Live, where he played a financial expert in a skit and referred to Dogecoin as “a hustle.” A sharp decline followed this comment in Dogecoin’s value, which plummeted over 25% from its all-time high of $0.73. It noted that Dogecoin has not recovered to those price levels since then.
Elon Musk Wins the Case
In the recent ruling, Judge Alvin Hellerstein stated that the billionaire’s tweets about Dogecoin were “aspirational and puffery, not factual and susceptible to being falsified.” This means the judge considered Musk’s statements promotional and not based on facts, which cannot be used as a basis for a lawsuit.
Additionally, the judge ruled that no reasonable investor could rely on such tweets for investment guidance. The court found that the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence to support their alleged market manipulation and insider trading against Elon. As a result, the court dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, an absolute win for Musk.
Despite the court’s dismissal of the lawsuit, Dogecoin’s price remained relatively stable. At press time, data from CoinMarketCap revealed the token experienced a minor 0.5% increase over the past 24 hours.
