Elon Musk is facing allegations of insider trading in a proposed class action lawsuit filed by investors who accuse the Tesla Inc CEO of manipulating the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, resulting in substantial financial losses amounting to billions of dollars.

According to a filing made in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday night, investors claim that Musk utilized various means, including Twitter posts, payments to online influencers, his appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in 2021, and other attention-grabbing tactics to trade Dogecoin profitably at their expense.

The investors assert that Musk or Tesla controlled several Dogecoin wallets through which these manipulative actions took place, Nasdaq reported.

They highlight an incident in April when Musk sold approximately $124 million worth of Dogecoin after replacing Twitter’s blue bird logo with Dogecoin’s Shiba Inu dog logo, leading to a significant 30% increase in Dogecoin’s price.

The lawsuit alleges that Musk engaged in a deliberate pattern of behavior involving market manipulation, insider trading, and attention-grabbing tactics, which allowed him to defraud investors while promoting himself and his companies.

It should be noted that Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October of the previous year and is also involved in other ventures such as SpaceX, a manufacturer of rockets and spacecraft, and Tesla, an electric car company.

Written by staff