Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, have successfully dismissed a lawsuit accusing them of manipulating Dogecoin's (DOGE) value, which allegedly caused $258 billion in damages.
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York dismissed the case on August 29.
Judge Hellerstein ruled that the claims against Musk and Tesla were based on "material misrepresentations" of Musk's tweets about Dogecoin.
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The tweets in question included Musk's humorous claims of becoming Dogecoin's CEO and suggesting a physical Dogecoin could be sent to the moon in SpaceX. The judge described these statements as "aspirational and puffery, not factual," noting that they could not be reasonably relied upon by investors. The lawsuit adds:
As for Musk and Tesla's alleged "pump and dump" scheme, it is not possible to understand the allegations that form the basis of Plaintiffs' conclusion of market manipulation.
The lawsuit, filed in June 2022 by a group of Dogecoin investors, alleged that Musk artificially inflated Dogecoin's price by over 36,000% over two years, only to let it crash, and accused him of using his influence to run a "Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme," seeking $258 billion in damages.
On March 31, Musk's legal team requested the lawsuit's dismissal, calling the claims and the damages demand a "fanciful work of fiction." The court ultimately agreed.
At the time of writing, the price of DOGE has decreased by 1.07%, trading at around $0.10.
With this legal victory, Musk and Tesla have avoided what could have been one of the largest financial penalties in history.
In other news, former President Donald Trump has suggested he may offer Musk a Cabinet position if he wins the upcoming election against Kamala Harris.
