Tesla CEO Elon Musk has lost a key attorney in the ongoing Dogecoin (DOGE)-related insider trading case. According to court documents, attorney Adam Gabor Mehes has filed a motion to withdraw counsel in the $258 billion lawsuit. The Manhattan attorney had been working with the former Twitter CEO for just over a year. Moreover, Mehes aggressively took part in a wide range of judicial proceedings.
However, a separate court filing from Friday said that Tesla’s legal team was adding a new attorney: Allison Huebert. Huebert most recently worked as a litigation associate for the law firm Quinn Emanuel. Musk said in a tweet last year that his business was creating a “hardcore litigation department,” and a few months later hired Mehes.
It is not completely clear why Mehes decided to withdraw counsel. However, the change in attorneys comes right after a letter from Musk’s legal team was leaked to New York Post. In the letter, Elon Musk denied owning the crypto wallets that were reportedly used to conduct suspicious Dogecoin (DOGE) trades.
What’s going on in the Elon Musk-Dogecoin lawsuit?
Musk is being accused of pumping Dogecoin (DOGE) using his social media account by DOGE investors. Moreover, Musk is also accused of selling his DOGE holdings when prices were high. In total, the billionaire is accused of cashing in $95 million worth of Dogecoin (DOGE).
The complaint linked Dogecoin (DOGE) transactions conducted between April 3 and April 6 to digital wallets allegedly held by Elon Musk and Tesla. At the time, the blue bird logo of the social media site Twitter, owned by Musk, was changed to the Dogecoin emblem. Following the change of the logo, DOGE’s price rose by 30%, from $0.07705 to $0.10109.
In his response to the plaintiff’s attorney Evan Spencer, Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro disputed his claims. Spiro stated, “You specifically allege, without basis, that the following wallets ‘belong’ to Defendants.” Spiro then added, “You are wrong.”
According to the complaint, Elon Musk’s wallet contained more than $25 billion in Dogecoin at its peak value. Nonetheless, Musk has denied all allegations. At press time, DOGE was trading at $0.062257, up by 0.4% in the last 24 hours.