Last year, a lawsuit was filed against South African entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk. The lawsuit alleged that Musk took measures to manipulate the price of Dogecoin, which he’s been fond of and spoken highly of for some time. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim to have lost millions of dollars during the 2022 bear market, and they’re blaming the SpaceX founder for his alleged role in their losses.
Elon Musk Lawsuit Changed Up
Now, it appears the lawsuit against Musk has taken a new turn to include charges of insider trading. The complaint was filed in early June of this year in the Southern District of New York, and it says Musk took distinct measures to violate financial laws in the U.S. The document reads:
This is a securities fraud class action arising from a deliberate course of carnival barking market manipulation and insider trading by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, who hijacked an emergent pop-culture phenomenon to cross-promote himself and his companies, and to pad his obscene fortune, preying on the earnest hopes of vulnerable Americans including war veterans, blue collar workers, and the elderly.
One of the bits of evidence the complaint is using against Musk is that he briefly changed the Twitter logo from its recognizable blue bird to the Dogecoin dog. Once this occurred, the price of Doge rose as much as 30 percent over a short period, though the price was quick to come down once the logo was switched back.
However, during the time of the switch and the subsequent price hike, Musk is accused of unloading as much as $100 million in Doge, thus making a hefty profit. He is also alleged to have garnered benefits from paid influencers, and that his company Tesla traded in the currency and garnered insider knowledge surrounding Doge activity. The complaint continues with:
Musk traded Dogecoin profitably through one or more wallets and domestic exchanges using foreknowledge then unknown and undisclosed to Dogecoin investors generally or publicly of his own intended moves to manipulate the market. Tesla, Inc, also traded profitably through one or more wallets and domestic exchanges during the class period, having been tipped off to this information by defendant Musk.
Did He Cause People to Lose Doge?
Musk has repeatedly worked to have the currency lawsuit dismissed in court, claiming he never forced anybody to invest in crypto. The fact remains that he’s a Doge fan who’s tried to talk about it whenever he could, but he hasn’t held a weapon to anyone’s head and forced them to invest at the expense of their lives. The amended lawsuit finishes with:
In subsequent tweets, Musk, who had tens of millions of Twitter followers at the time, dubbed himself ‘the Dogefather,’ and has tweeted about Dogecoin over one hundred times since then.