Elon Musk, Tesla, and SpaceX are facing a $258 billion lawsuit over allegations they “are engaged in a crypto pyramid scheme by way of Dogecoin cryptocurrency.”
As first reported by Fortune, and per court documents reviewed by Complex, the tech mogul has been sued by Keith Johnson, “an American citizen who was defrauded out of money by defendants’ Dogecoin Crypto Pyramid Scheme.”
Johnson, who looks to represent a group of investors that allegedly incurred losses from trading in Dogecoin since 2019, is seeking $86 billion in damages, in addition to triple damages of $172 billion. Johnson also requests that Musk and his high-profile companies stop promoting the cryptocurrency.
The lawsuit claims that “since Elon Musk and his corporations SpaceX and Tesla, Inc. began purchasing, developing, promoting, supporting, and operating Dogecoin since 2019, [the] Plaintiff and the class has lost approximately $86 billion in this Crypto Pyramid Scheme.”
“Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that Dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all,” the complaint reads.
Johnson’s lawsuit goes on to accuse of Musk of garnering “the support of celebrities, influencers and billionaire investors,” as well as thousands of followers on social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to boost “the price, trading volume, and market cap of Dogecoin.”
From there, the complaint lists celebrities that supported Dogecoin, including Mark Cuban, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Jonas, Guy Fieri, and Lil Yachty, among others.
At its peak, Dogecoin at 74 cents a coin. To put things in perspective, it’s currently trading at 5 cents a coin.
Musk has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
