Claimants pile into Dogecoin lawsuit against Elon Musk
A $258bn lawsuit accusing Elon Musk of running a “crypto pyramid scheme” to bolster the price of Dogecoin has expanded to include seven new claimants and six defendants, including The Boring Company.
The lawsuit, first filed in a New York federal court in June, accuses the world’s richest man of running a ponzi scheme by promoting Dogecoin on the internet.
The case argues Dogecoin in itself is “simply a fraud whereby ‘greater fools’ are deceived into buying the coin at a higher price.”
It accuses Musk of forming a “Doge Army” of influencers, celebrities and his own corporations to “increase the price, market cap and trading volume of Dogecoin”.
The class action lawsuit was brought forward by Dogecoin investor Keith Johnson and has now seen seven new investor plaintiffs pile in, including the Dogecoin Foundation, which describes itself as a non-profit.
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency initially invented as a “joke” by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer in 2013.
It is considered the first “meme-coin” due to its basis on the Shiba Inu “doge” meme, from which it derives its name and image.
Musk and The Boring Company, a US construction services firm founded by Musk, did not respond to requests for comment.