In June 2022, a group of Dogecoin (DOGE) investors sued Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX for market fraud. Specifically, the lawsuit was filed because investors believe that Musk and his companies manipulated the stock price for their own interests. Since the indictment was filed, the complaint has been amended several times by the public prosecutor’s office and now it has happened again: new attack targets from the crypto landscape have been added.
Dogecoin founder indicted
New court documents show that several influencers and big names are from DOGE Community be involved in the ongoing litigation. They are accused of generating favorable social media content in return for payments or other undisclosed benefits. In this way, they contributed to the alleged manipulation of the DOGE price. The payments would be part of the so-called Ad sharing revenue Program from X, formerly known as Twitter.
— Richard L ✈ (@RichDevX) September 18, 2023
Several X accounts are mentioned in the document, including that of Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus. The software programmer, better known as “Shibetoshi Nakamoto,” founded Dogecoin in 2013 with Jackson Palmer.
Dogecoin developer “Mishaboar” and a long list of well-known Dogecoin accounts have been accused of allegedly hyping Dogecoin and Musk to influence the price.
In response to the allegations, Markus stated that he disagreed with the allegations. For example, he says he also shares negative things about Dogecoin and crypto in general.
Mishaboar responded to the complaint with one News on X. He said the following:
“No, this account has never received advertising revenue from
Developments of the DOGE lawsuit so far
As already mentioned, the lawsuit has also been amended several times in the past. According to a change in June, Musk would have used his social media along with his publicity stunts to influence the price. This includes Musk’s previous appointment as Twitter CEO as well as the adaptation of the then Twitter logo to the Dogecoin logo.
The latest development in the case came a month ago when Musk’s lawyers argued for the billion-dollar case to be dropped.