Levine Lee represented the Dogecoin Foundation, Inc., the organization responsible for supporting the Dogecoin crypto-currency, in a putative class action securities litigation brought in the Southern District of New York against the Dogecoin Foundation, Elon Musk, and Tesla, Inc. Lead Plaintiffs originally sought $258 billion in damages related to the alleged manipulation of the Dogecoin market, and their operative complaint brings claims against all defendants for securities fraud, Civil RICO, common law fraud, and unjust enrichment.
On March 31, 2023, Levine Lee filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of the Dogecoin Foundation for failure to state a claim, and on May 26, 2023, Lead Plaintiffs filed a notice voluntarily dismissing all claims against the Foundation prior to filing an opposition to the Foundation’s motion. In an accompanying motion concerning the filing of an amended complaint against the remaining defendants, Lead Plaintiffs noted that, “[a]fter having six weeks to review Defendants’ [motions to dismiss] . . . Plaintiffs concluded that it would be best to dismiss [the Dogecoin Foundation] from the case.” The Court approved Lead Plaintiffs’ dismissal of the Dogecoin Foundation on May 31, 2023.
Seth L. Levine commented, in this article by Law360, that “[w]e are pleased that the Dogecoin Foundation has been dismissed from this action, which is the appropriate result.” Additional discussion of the Dogecoin Foundation’s dismissal is available in this article by Reuters.
Seth Levine, Chad Albert, and Steven Kessler worked on the matter. The case is Johnson v. Elon Musk et al., No. 22-cv-05037 (S.D.N.Y). A discussion of Levine Lee’s motion to dismiss is available at: Law360: Dogecoin Buyers’ ‘Fanciful’ Fraud Suit, and a copy of the motion is available at: Law360, Levine Lee Motion. Selected background press discussions on the matter are available here: Reuters: Elon Musk Seeks End to 258 Billion Dogecoin Lawsuit; Bloomberg: Musk, Tesla, SpaceX Are Sued for Alleged Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme; Law360: Dogecoin Buyer Accuses Musk of Fraud in $258B Suit