Dogecoin Lawsuit: Elon Musk Accused of Insider Trading

Facts

• As part of a proposed class action lawsuit, investors filed a third amended complaint in Manhattan federal court Wednesday night, accusing Tesla CEO Elon Musk of insider trading, manipulating the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, and defrauding stakeholders of billions of dollars.¹
• The filing claims that Musk used Twitter posts, online influencers, and his 2021 appearance on "Saturday Night Live" to artificially inflate Dogecoin's value by 30% and sold about $124M of Dogecoin in April after changing the social media app's bird logo with Dogecoin's Shiba Inu dog logo.²
• The complaint alleges Musk deliberately drove up Dogecoin's price by more than 36K% over two years before letting it crash, adding Musk deceived investors via a "deliberate course of carnival barking [and] market manipulation."³
• The lawsuit, initially brought by investors of Musk's companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, is suing Musk for $258B over his alleged "fiduciary relationship" with the meme coin.⁴
• Meanwhile, US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein granted the investors' request to dismiss the Dogecoin Foundation as a defendant in the lawsuit and is expected to allow the third amended complaint, saying the defendants wouldn't likely be prejudiced.⁵
• In 2021, Musk repeatedly joked about the cryptocurrency, saying he would launch a satellite named Doge-1 to the Moon and allow customers to buy Tesla cars using Doge.⁶

Sources: ¹CNN, ²Guardian, ³Reuters, ⁴Gizmodo, ⁵Nasdaq, and ⁶Mashable.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Protos. Elon Musk may act like everything he Tweets or quips is a joke, but that doesn't absolve him from abusing his platform as one of the world's wealthiest and most influential people. Musk's reach across many different mediums allowed him to manipulate Dogecoin's price so that he could pump and dump the cryptocurrency, adding to his wealth. Musk's complete disregard for ethics cost investors billions, and he should be held responsible for his role. His big mouth has cost him some goodwill, and it may finally hurt his wallet.
• Narrative B, as provided by CryptoPotato. The latest installment of the frivolous $258B lawsuit against Elon Musk is now taking the ludicrous leap to claim that the Twitter owner participated in insider trading by posting funny pictures about the cryptocurrency. The investors suing Musk have yet to say how the Tesla CEO is responsible for Dogecoin's performance or what laws he broke. Since facts and evidence usually aren't vital to these bloated class action suits, being rich signifies you're no longer allowed to post memes without being sued.

Predictions