RT.com
19 Jun 2022, 21:09 GMT+10
The Tesla and SpaceX owner is being sued over an alleged Dogecoin pyramid scheme
Billionaire Tesla CEO and crypto enthusiast Elon Musk has pledged to keep supporting Dogecoin, in spite of a lawsuit that was filed against him earlier this week, alleging that he ran a pyramid scheme to promote the token.
In a complaint filed in a federal court in Manhattan on Thursday, crypto investor Keith Johnson accused Musk of intentionally driving up the price of Dogecoin with his remarks on the crypto coin, only to allow the price to drop and make a profit on the difference.
"Defendants were aware since 2019 that Dogecoin had no value yet promoted Dogecoin to profit from its trading. Musk used his pedestal as World's Richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure and amusement," the complaint said, as cited by Reuters.
Johnson's lawyer did not disclose the evidence his client has. However, the complaint alleges that Dogecoin's selloff coincided with Musk's comments on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live', when he called Dogecoin "a hustle." Prior to that comment, the price of the coin, which was originally created as a joke, soared due to Musk's Twitter statements on its value.
Musk's lawyers did not immediately comment on the lawsuit, though the billionaire tweeted on Sunday: "I will keep supporting Dogecoin."
The investor is demanding $258 billion from Musk in damages, which represents triple the decline in Dogecoin's market value since May 2021. He also wants the judge to block Musk and his companies from promoting Dogecoin in the future and declare Dogecoin trading gambling.
For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
Get a daily dose of Business Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Business Sun.
More InformationWASHINGTON D.C.: Due to the record high trade deficit and a resurgence in COVID-19 infections that curbed spending on services, ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks rebounded on Friday, a day after major across-the-board sell-offs."Consensus estimates for 2022 and ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia skidded lower Friday with all the major indices recording solid losses."Capitulation is the ...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Amidst the rise of "re-fracs" in the U.S. as part of the efforts to boost domestic oil production, ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia traded sharply lower on Thursday, following on from major falls on Wall Street ...
NEW YORK, New York - Wall Street struggled to find its footing on Wednesday after Fed chief Jerome Powell vowed ...
Beijing [China], July 2 (ANI): TikTok, a 15-second video platform, has told US senators that it is taking all necessary ...
Washington [US], July 2 (ANI): Search engine Google has decided to delete users' location history when they visit abortion clinics, ...
Washington [US], July 2 (ANI): It has been intriguing to track the shift to Wear OS 3 for smart wearables, ...
Beijing [China], July 1 (ANI): In its latest efforts to shake off the country's reliance on foreign systems such as ...
New Delhi [India], July 1 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh on July 4 during ...
NASA has discovered a double crater made when a rocket of unknown origin hit the MoonA rocket of unknown origin ...