The judge rejected the 258 billion dollar claim
Tesla founder and social media platform owner Elon Musk (formerly Twitter) has denied the allegations against him. He and his electric vehicle company, Tesla, were accused of defrauding investors of dogecoin solicitation and insider trading.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan dismissed the lawsuit, giving Musk and the electric vehicle company relief.
Investors' claims failed to stick.
The lawsuit, which has been amended four times in two years, alleges that Musk used his influence, particularly on Twitter and appearing on NBC's “Saturday Night Live,” to manipulate the price of Dogecoin.
Investors say Elon Musk has driven Dogecoin's price up 36,000% in two years. He then sold his Doge holdings, causing the price to crash. This caused huge financial losses to the investors. He also pointed out that he is involved in insider trading. He made his trades coincide with his public statements.
We all remember when Elon changed the Twitter logo. It changed its logo from the blue bird to Dogecoin in April 2023. This event was noticed by the investors and caused the price of the cryptocurrency to increase by 30%. Elon allegedly sold his Doge holdings shortly after.
Judge Hellerstein's decision
Judge Hellerstein was not convinced by the investors' claims. Elon Musk's tweets related to Dogecoin are also wishful thinking. They were not meant to be taken literally. He also pointed out that no reasonable investor can rely on such tweets. And this cannot be the basis for a security fraud claim.
Hellerstein called the allegations “impossible to understand” and found the insider trading claims too vague. With these conclusions, the judge dismissed the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be brought back.
A win for Elon Musk and Dogecoin
Celebrating this victory, Elon Musk's lawyer Alex Spiro said it's a great day for Dogecoin. Elon Musk's legal team said the tweets were completely harmless and that there was no evidence of any illegal activity related to the Dogecoin business.
look forward
Elon Musk has a history of making funny tweets about various cryptocurrencies. His tweets should not be taken as a signal to buy or sell some crypto. So far, this decision clears Elon Musk's name of anything wrong with Dogecoin. As for Dogecoin's future, we'll have to wait and see how this affects its price.
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