A lawsuit was filed Thursday, June 16, in federal court in Manhattan against Ilon Musk and two of his companies. The victim alleges that the billionaire was involved in organizing a “Ponzi scheme” based on the meme currency DOGE. The plaintiff is seeking $258 billion in compensation.
American Keith Johnson represents a group of investors who have lost money on investments in Dogecoin since April 2019. In his opinion, Ilon Musk is guilty because he was most actively involved in promoting the cryptocurrency.
“The defendants (the billionaire as well as two legal entities, Tesla and SpaceX) falsely claim that DOGE is a legitimate investment. But in fact this currency has no real value,” Fortune quoted an excerpt from the lawsuit.
On behalf of the victims, Johnson is seeking $258 billion in compensation and damages. He also insists on an injunction for Musk and employees of his companies to promote Dogecoin on the Internet.
According to the lawsuit, the businessman artificially “inflated” the price of memecoin only to then dump the assets. This is typical of cryptopyramids organized in a “Ponzi scheme.”
According to Johnson, mem-currency is an analogue of gambling and must be regulated by relevant legislation. The billionaire himself has not yet commented on the lawsuit.
It should be noted that DOGE fell by 67% from last year’s high. In May, the asset was trading at $0.64. At the time of writing, the price is $0.057.