The court found Musk’s statements to be non-factual and aspirational, describing them as “puffery.”
A U.S. court has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Elon Musk and Tesla of engaging in market manipulation and insider trading targeting the Dogecoin (DOGE) cryptocurrency.
On Aug. 29, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a class action lawsuit filed in 2022 that argued Musk’s past tweets on the subject of Dogecoin misled investors and resulted in substantial financial losses.
The plaintiffs, represented by Colby Gorog, Joshua Flint, Louis Robinson, and Michael Lerro, claimed that Musk, the CEO of Tesla, sought to engage in a Dogecoin pump-and-dump scheme by leveraging his influence online.
The plaintiffs highlighted previous tweets from Musk stating that Dogecoin might be his “favorite currency,” describing DOGE as the “people’s crypto” and the “future currency of Earth,” claiming DOGE could become “the standard for the global financial system and the currency of the internet,” and announcing he had purchased DOGE for his son.
The lawsuit also noted that Musk previously agreed to become Dogecoin’s CEO, contemplated using a SpaceX vehicle to fly a “literal Dogecoin” to the moon in a DOGE-financed mission, and claimed that Tesla vehicles could be bought with Dogecoin.
According to the plaintiffs, Musk’s comments sought to inflate Dogecoin’s price for personal gain as part of an alleged pump-and-dump scheme. Plaintiffs sought $258 billion in damages from Tesla and Musk.
However, the court found Musk’s statements to be non-factual and aspirational, classifying them as “puffery.” The judge added that the plaintiff’s claims were vague and unsupported by specific evidence.
“These statements are aspirational and puffery, not factual, and susceptible to being falsified,” ruled Judge Hellerstein. “No reasonable investor could rely upon them.”
The ruling included instructions to enter judgment in favor of Musk and Tesla, terminate all open motions, and close the case.
Despite the ruling, the price of DOGE dropped 2% in the last 24 hours to $0.10, according to The Defiant’s crypto price feeds. The requested damages were 18.5 times larger than Dogecoin’s market cap, currently around $14 billion.
Elon Musk showers DOGE with praise
Musk has frequently and publicly supported Dogecoin, often referring to it as “the people’s crypto.” Throughout the years, his tweets have appeared to positively impact DOGE’s price.
On April 2, 2019, the price of DOGE surged by 25% in 24 hours after Musk tweeted “Dogecoin might be my fav cryptocurrency, Musk tweeted. On December 20, 2020, DOGE similarly jumped 20% in 24 hours after Musk tweeted “One word: Doge.”
His influence continued into 2022 and 2023, with Musk’s announcement that Tesla would accept DOGE as payment for merchandise precipitating a price rise. DOGE also rallied by 25% on April 3, 2023, after the logo placeholder on Twitter, the Musk-owned social media network, was replaced with Dogecoin’s logo.
Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/people/court-dismisses-usd258b-lawsuit-alleging-elon-musk-and-tesla-manipulated-dogecoin