By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A lawsuit accusing Elon Musk of rigging Dogecoin is ending.

Investors in the cryptocurrency, who claimed the world's richest person and his electric car company Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) committed fraud and insider trading, are withdrawing their appeal from an August 29 dismissal of their case.

They are also retracting a bid to sanction Musk's lawyers for allegedly interfering with the appeal by demanding payment of their hefty legal fees.

Musk and Tesla have, in turn, withdrawn their motion to sanction the investors' lawyer for allegedly pursuing a "frivolous" case with ever-evolving legal theories in an attempt to "extort a quick handout."

A stipulation dismissing the appeal and both sides' motions was filed on Thursday night in federal court in Manhattan. This dismissal requires approval from U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.

Lawyers for both the investors and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

The investors accused Musk of manipulating Dogecoin values through Twitter posts, an appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live, and other media stunts, claiming he timed trades to coincide with his public statements and activities.

In the August 29 dismissal, Hellerstein concluded that reasonable investors could not substantiate securities fraud based on Musk's tweets, which included claims that Dogecoin was the future currency of Earth and could be transported to the moon by his company SpaceX.

The judge also expressed confusion over the investors' market manipulation and insider trading allegations.

Initially, investors sought $258 billion and amended their complaint four times over two years.

Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it as X.

On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump appointed Musk and biotechnology founder Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new Department of Government Efficiency, whose acronym echoes Dogecoin's name.

The case is cited as Gorog et al v. Musk et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05037.