Elon Musk and his electric vehicle company, Tesla, have recently won a class action lawsuit that was filed against them in 2022. The action claimed that Musk and his enterprises engaged in a scheme to manipulatively influence the share price of Dogecoin, an emerging cryptocurrency. On Thursday, Hellerstein, a federal judge, dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.
The trial was launched in June 2022 by several investors who claimed that they were harmed by Musk’s tweet on Dogecoin. The investors stated that Musk’s tweets and comments, including his assertion that he became the CEO of Dogecoin and his proposal to launch a Dogecoin to the moon using SpaceX, were misleading. They remarked that these messages continued to drive Dogecoin’s value up and burdened them financially once the price dropped.
Court Dismisses Dogecoin Lawsuit, Finds Musk’s Comments Were Not Investment Advice
Judge Hellerstein said that all statements made by Musk were more of an ambitious goal, not a realistic claim. He acknowledged that these statements were not to be depended on for investment purposes. The judge added that any reasonable investor would not rely solely on Musk’s comment in making investment decisions. The judge also characterized the allegations concerning the market manipulation, the ‘pump and dump’ scheme, as well as insider trading as baseless. These allegations were not substantiated by the evidence presented by the plaintiffs in their defamation case.
The dismissal of the lawsuit clears Musk and Tesla from any form of malpractice concerning Dogecoin and brings a close to the legal battle on whether Musk’s comments influenced the cryptocurrency.
