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Elon Musk Sued for $258 Billion, Alleged Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme to Blame

No sense in crying over spilled milk when you could sue. A Dogecoin investor is taking Elon Musk and his two companies Tesla and SpaceX to court, over claims of running a pyramid scheme with Dogecoin, which Musk once hailed as the “people’s crypto.”
DogeFather no more: Elon Musk is being sued for running pyramid scheme with Dogecoin 7 photos
Photo: Twitter / Elon Musk
Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live on May 8Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live on May 8Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live on May 8Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live on May 8Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live on May 8Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live on May 8
In between revolutionizing the auto industry, fighting for the democratization of space exploration and ultimately saving humankind by colonizing Mars, trying to buy Twitter and stand for the freedom of speech, Elon Musk has also been a very vocal proponent of cryptocurrency as the future of transactions. His all-time favorite was Dogecoin, a crypto that started out as a joke way back in 2013, a riff on the popular Doge meme, and which Musk described as “people’s crypto.”

At one point, Musk was so fond of Doge that he would tweet about it regularly. He also announced the sale of Tesla merch for Doge and asked customers whether they’d like the chance to pay for Tesla cars with the token. He would share memes and insights into Doge, and ended up branding himself the DogeFather.

In May 2021, Musk hosted Saturday Night Live and, during one skit that saw him playing a financial analyst, he branded Doge “a hustle,” which sent its value spiraling downwards in a matter of seconds. If anything, the joke confirmed Musk’s influence over the crypto market, which he was able to impact for better or worse with just a one-liner.

It is also proof that he ran a pyramid scheme, according to a new lawsuit filed in a federal court in Manhattan, obtained by Reuters. Dogecoin investor and plaintiff Keith Johnson alleges that Musk artificially boosted the value of the token, only to make it fall uncontrollably later on, which ended up costing him $86 billion in lost profits. He wants that amount set as damages – and tripled in the lawsuit.

“Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that Dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all,” the lawsuit states. “Since Defendant Musk and his corporations SpaceX and Tesla, Inc began purchasing, developing, promoting, supporting and operating Dogecoin in 2019, Plaintiff and the class have lost approximately $86 billion in this Crypto Pyramid Scheme.”

As per the report, proof that Musk ran the Doge pyramid scheme is in his tweets, as well as in tweets from other public figures who warned against investing in cryptocurrency. Because this investor took Musk’s word over the others’, but especially because Musk actively inflated the market value of the token and then brought it down, Musk is responsible for his giant (paper) loss.

The lawsuit also seeks to block Musk and the other two defendants from promoting Dogecoin, and for a judge to declare that trading in Doge is gambling.

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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