‘Dogefather’ Elon Musk Slapped With Mammoth $258 Billion Lawsuit For Allegedly Pumping Dogecoin ⋆ ZyCrypto

One American citizen by the name of Keith Johnson is taking Elon Musk and his companies Tesla and SpaceX to court for allegedly orchestrating what he believes to have been a racketeering scheme that worked out to his detriment.

Musk, Tesla, And SpaceX Face $258B Dogecoin Suit

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan on Thursday, claims Elon Musk, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, and space exploration startup SpaceX are masterminds of a “Dogecoin Crypto Pyramid Scheme” which resulted in the plaintiff losing money.

The heart of the lawsuit is that the centibillionaire and his companies form an unlawful racketeering enterprise to inflate the price of the popular meme cryptocurrency, Bloomberg reported.

“Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that Dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all,” the filed court document reads.

Suit Seeks To Bar Musk From Publicly Endorsing Dogecoin

Elon Musk is known to help his pet cryptocurrency DOGE gain some momentum every now and then. Tesla merchandise is currently buyable with Dogecoin and Musk recently confirmed SpaceX would also soon accept the canine-inspired coin for payment. 

Musk also previously disclosed that he personally holds Dogecoin. The eccentric CEO has often boosted the price of DOGE with his frequent Dogecoin-themed tweets, as investors attempt to cash in on the hype. The coin spiked considerably after he announced plans to acquire social media giant Twitter and take it private. The world’s richest man is also working with Dogecoin developers to help it outrival Bitcoin.

Johnson is asking for class-action status for the lawsuit. On behalf of other people who lost money trading Dogecoin from April 2019, he’s seeking $86 billion in damages along with triple damages of $172 billion.

Besides classifying Dogecoin trading as gambling under the United States and New York law, the plaintiff also wants an order blocking the self-proclaimed “Dogefather” and his multibillion-dollar enterprises from promoting the crypto asset.

Other than Musk, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has emerged as another renowned Dogecoin backer. Cuban feels that the meme token, created in 2013 purely as a joke, is becoming a legitimate utility for payments.

DOGE is exchanging hands at $0.057143 at publication time, down 92.1% from its May 2021 all-time high price of 73 cents.