The lawsuit accusing Elon Musk of counterfeiting Dogecoin ends.
Cryptocurrency investors who said the world’s richest person and his electric car company Tesla committed fraud and insider trading are withdrawing their appeal of the August 29 decision to dismiss their case.
They are also withdrawing an attempt to punish Musk’s lawyers for allegedly interfering in the appeal, including by demanding payment of their exorbitant legal fees.
Meanwhile, Musk and Tesla withdrew their proposal to penalize investor lawyers for allegedly pursuing a “frivolous” case with ever-changing legal theories in order to “extort a quick handout.”
A stipulation denying the appeal and both sides’ requests was filed Thursday night in federal court in Manhattan. The order requires approval by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.
Lawyers for investors and Musk did not immediately respond Friday to requests for comment.
Investors have accused Musk of using Twitter posts, appearances on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and other stunts to trade Dogecoin at their expense, including timing trades based on Musk’s public statements and activities.
In the Aug. 29 denial, Hellerstein said reasonable investors could not prove securities fraud by relying on Musk’s tweets, including that Dogecoin is Earth’s future currency and could be flown to the moon by his company SpaceX.
The judge also said he did not understand investors’ market manipulation and insider trading allegations.
The investors, originally seeking $258 billion, amended their complaint four times in two years.
Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and renamed it X.
On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump tapped Musk and biotech company founder Vivek Ramaswani to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, whose acronym reflects the name Dogecoin.
The case is Gorog et al v. Musk et al., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05037.