Elon Musk really likes Dogecoin. In recent years, Musk has talked up the Shiba Inu–themed cryptocurrency on Saturday Night Live, mused about becoming its CEO, and even suggested he would send it to the moon on a SpaceX rocket. It was not clear if Musk really meant all this, but New England electrician Keith Johnson took the claims seriously enough to spend hundreds of dollars on Dogecoin—and then lead a $258 million class-action lawsuit after the currency dropped in value.
The lawsuit claimed Musk and his company Tesla had run an illegal "pump and dump" scheme to inflate the price of Dogecoin, and then cash out after other investors rushed in to buy it. Other Dogecoin buyers—including an Arkansas retiree and a New York Ivy League student—also joined the lawsuit, which sought $86 billion in damages, plus triple damages of $172 billion.
Alas for the plaintiffs, their claim fell flat after a federal judge in New York tossed the case on Thursday. In a terse two-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein summarized the various claims Musk had made about Dogecoin on Twitter (now X). Those included that:
"Dogecoin might be his favorite currency and that he had purchased some for his son, that Dogecoin is the people's crypto and the future currency of Earth, that Dogecoin might become the standard for the global financial system and the currency of the internet, [and] that Tesla vehicles could be bought with Dogecoin."
