In a decisive victory for Elon Musk and Tesla, a Manhattan District Court judge has dismissed a high-profile class action lawsuit accusing them of orchestrating a massive Dogecoin price manipulation scheme. The lawsuit, which sought a staggering $258 billion in damages, was dismissed by Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who ruled that the allegations lacked the necessary grounds to proceed.

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The lawsuit, filed by a group of investors, claimed that Musk used his social media influence to artificially inflate the value of Dogecoin, only to profit from the subsequent rise and fall of the cryptocurrency. The plaintiffs alleged that Musk’s Twitter antics and high-profile endorsements were part of a deliberate strategy to manipulate Dogecoin’s value, with claims of a 36,000% increase in its price over two years and a $124 million profit from a subsequent sell-off.

The case drew attention when Musk’s legal team argued that while the billionaire’s tweets about Dogecoin were bold and provocative, they did not constitute fraud or market manipulation. Judge Hellerstein agreed, stating that the plaintiffs’ reliance on Musk’s tweets as evidence was misguided. “No reasonable investor should base their financial decisions solely on tweets,” the judge remarked.

The court’s dismissal marks the end of a lengthy legal battle that saw the plaintiffs revise their claims multiple times over the past two years. Despite the setback, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, welcomed the ruling, emphasizing that it was a significant win for the Dogecoin community. Official representatives of the plaintiffs chose not to comment on the ruling.

The dismissal of this lawsuit underscores the complex intersection of social media influence, cryptocurrency markets, and legal boundaries, setting a precedent for how such cases may be handled in the future.

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