Elon Musk is accused of insider trading in a class action lawsuit filed by investors accusing him of manipulating the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, costing them billions of dollars.
In a filing Wednesday night in Manhattan federal court, investors are citing Musk's Twitter posts, paid online influencers, his appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in 2021, and other "promotional shows" through several Dogecoin wallets that he or Tesla control. He said he used it to trade profitably.
Changing the Twitter Logo to DOGE Also Involved in the Case
Investors said this included Musk's sale of approximately $124 million in Dogecoin in April after replacing Twitter's blue bird logo with Dogecoin's Shiba Inu dog logo, resulting in a 30% increase in Dogecoin's price.
In the filing, it was stated that a deliberate process of advertising, market manipulation and insider trading allowed Musk to defraud investors and promote himself and his companies.
Musk bought Twitter last October. He also runs rocket and spacecraft maker SpaceX, as well as electric car maker Tesla.
Musk and Tesla's attorney, Alex Spiro, declined to comment on the matter on Thursday. Investors' lawyers have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Investors accused Musk, who is the second richest person in the world according to Forbes magazine, of deliberately raising the price of Dogecoin by more than 36,000% over two years and then letting it crash.
*Not investment advice.
124 million is nothing to EM