By James Davis
The lawsuit filed a few weeks ago by a group of Dogecoin investors against Elon Musk, the founder of electric carmaker Tesla, took another turn yesterday, with the complainants now accusing the defendant of being involved in practices that manipulated the meme coin’s price.
As per the amended lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Musk used his huge following on Twitter to push DOGE’s price up. The plaintiffs described this practice as transparent crypto market manipulation.
The lawsuit states instances that complainants believe fit the description of market manipulation. One of the notable examples was when Musk tweeted last July that he was still buying DOGE. That month, the dog-themed token rose by over 9%. The suit also highlights the Tesla founder’s move to replace the Twitter logo with Dogecoin’s in April for almost three days. During this period, the meme coin surged by over 30%.
The Dogecoin investors behind the lawsuit further claim that Musk enriched himself unjustly by selling an undisclosed amount of DOGE tokens after allegedly receiving insider information.
Dogecoin Investors Allege Securities Fraud
Meanwhile, complainants insist that Dogecoin is unregistered security, arguing that it perfectly fits the description of ‘Security’ as defined by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The lawsuit, therefore, accuses Elon Musk of promoting unlicensed security.
The defendant has previously submitted a petition to urge the court to dismiss the case, claiming that the plaintiffs lack sufficient evidence. Also, in his defense, Musk said he did not find it unlawful when he tweeted about a legit cryptocurrency that boasts a market capitalization of over $5.5 billion.
As per the lawsuit, the DOGE investors, who claim to have lost significant amounts of cash trading the meme coin, are looking to convince the court to force Elon Musk to pay them over $250 billion in damages.
Other Celebrities Facing Securities Fraud Charges
Musk is not the only US-based celebrity fighting a legal battle related to securities. Just last week, basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal was slapped with a lawsuit during an NBA game broadcast. The complainant accuse O’Neal of offering his Astrals NFTs as unregistered securities.