$258 Billion Elon Musk ‘Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme’ Lawsuit Adds Boring Company, Dogecoin Foundation To List Of Defendants

By Brian Bell  |  September 9, 2022 | 4:10pm
Image via Dogecoin
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$258 Billion Elon Musk ‘Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme’ Lawsuit Adds Boring Company, Dogecoin Foundation To List Of Defendants

The $258 billion lawsuit filed against noted Dogecoin supporter Elon Musk and his various businesses for their alleged role in what plaintiffs describe as a “Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme” is expanding.

In a legal filing Tuesday, seven additional Dogecoin investors joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs and added six new defendants, including Musk’s Boring Company and multiple organizations associated with the meme coin.

Among the Dogecoin-associated groups added is the Dogecoin Foundation, a nonprofit formed to support the cryptocurrency “through development and advocacy” and provide governance for Dogecoin. The Dogecoin Foundation counts Musk Foundation board member Jared Birchall, who has been referred to as Musk’s “fixer; and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin as advisors.

Crypto YouTuber Matt Wallace is also named as a defendant in the revised filing as a representative of Doge Army, a name taken by defenders of the meme coin and has been applied to subsequent coins and NFT collections such as Doge Army Token. Wallace heavily promotes Dogecoin on his “Final Stand” YouTube channel and regularly tweets about the coin as well, labeling it “the future cryptocurrency of Earth!!!”

Wallace commented on the lawsuit in a video posted to his channel on Thursday. He called initial plaintiff Keith Johnson a “loser” and appeared to not realize that his name was among the additional defendants. “Who knows? He’ll probably sue me too. I don’t know,” he said.

The initial lawsuit filed in June accused that Musk and his companies Tesla and SpaceX “promoted Dogecoin to profit from its trading” despite being “aware since 2019 that Dogecoin had no value.” The value of the coin peaked at $0.73 USD in May 2021, which coincided with Musk’s appearance as host of Saturday Night Live during which Musk referred to the coin as “a hustle” during a “Weekend Update” sketch.

Dogecoin’s value tanked following Musk’s SNL appearance, losing more than 90% of its value between then and the lawsuit’s filing 13 months later. The coin’s value currently sits at $0.064, a small increase from its $0.056 value when the complaint was filed.

 
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