New Delhi: Tesla chief Elon Musk was sued for $258 billion on Thursday by a Dogecoin (DOGE) investor over an alleged pyramid scheme where he accused the billionaire entrepreneur of supporting the cryptocurrency. Keith Johnson has accused Musk in his complaint filed in Manhattan federal court of fraudulent business activity for promoting Dogecoin, driving its price up only to then let the value tumble, reported Reuters. Johnson, who claims to have lost money after investing in dogecoin, described himself as an "American citizen who was defrauded" by what he called a "Dogecoin Crypto Pyramid Scheme."
Elon Musk Sued: What Is The Accusation?
"Defendants were aware since 2019 that Dogecoin had no value yet promoted Dogecoin to profit from its trading,” the complaint noted in the complaint. “Musk used his pedestal as World’s Richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure, and amusement.”
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The complaint also cites experts such as Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and others questioning the value of cryptocurrency. Since Musk began promoting the virtual currency, investors have lost around $86 billion, according to the estimates by Johnson. He is looking to gain $86 billion in damages on the basis of a decline in Dogecoin’s market value since May 2021 and wants it tripled.
Other than the damages, Johnson also wants to block Musk and his companies from promoting Dogecoin and a judge to declare that trading Dogecoin is gambling under federal and New York law.
The complaint states that Dogecoin’s selloff picked up when Musk hosted the NBC show Saturday Night Live, playing a fictitious financial expert on a “Weekend Update” segment, called Dogecoin “a hustle.”
He also named Musk's Tesla in the complaint since it accepts Dogecoin as payment for certain derivative products. SpaceX's name has also been included since one of its satellites was named after Dogecoin.
DOGE Price
In February 2021, Tesla said it had bought $1.5 billion Bitcoins and for a short time accepted it as payment for vehicles. Dogecoin traded at about 5.8 cents on Thursday, down from its May 2021 peak of about 74 cents.