Elon Musk and Tesla have emerged victorious in a legal battle over accusations of manipulating dogecoin and engaging in insider trading. A federal judge in Manhattan dismissed the lawsuit, stating that no reasonable investor could have relied on Musk’s tweets and public statements as evidence of securities fraud.
The lawsuit, dismissed with prejudice by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, had alleged that Musk and Tesla defrauded investors by artificially inflating the value of dogecoin, then profiting from the subsequent market fluctuations. Investors claimed Musk used various platforms, including Twitter and his appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” to manipulate the cryptocurrency for personal gain.
Judge Hellerstein deemed Musk’s public statements about dogecoin as “aspirational” rather than factual, ruling that these comments could not support a fraud claim. The judge also found the claims of market manipulation and insider trading unsubstantiated.
Investors had initially sought $258 billion in damages and had revised their complaint multiple times over two years. Musk’s legal team argued that the tweets in question were harmless and that there was no evidence of suspicious trading or ownership of implicated wallets.
Following the ruling, Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, celebrated the decision, highlighting it as a win for dogecoin. Musk, who acquired Twitter in October 2022 and rebranded it as X, remains one of the world’s wealthiest individuals with a net worth of $239.3 billion according to Forbes.
