A man who pitched the idea for a “DOGE Dividend” earlier this year that caught the attention of Elon Musk had a family Tesla repossessed following a court case with a former employer, and the company is now asking him to turn over more items.
James Fishback, who worked for Greenlight Capital from 2021 to 2023, was ordered to pay the company more than $200,000 following a March court judgment in New York.
Fishback told Newsweek that under his employment agreement, he is required to pay legal fees and that the company has never asked him for compensatory or punitive damages.
“Their strategy has been to use the courts to throw as many cases against me as possible to drive up their legal fees, so when the case is over, they then force me to pay their bill,” Fishback said.
A court document filed in September said a 2022 Tesla Model Y will be seized and sold via public auction, and another document confirmed the sale of the Tesla to Greenlight Capital for $20,000.
Fishback told Newsweek that the vehicle was his family’s car.
“I filed a civil rights complaint against Greenlight when I left in 2023 for religious discrimination. I’m a Christian, they’re not. There are some real issues there, so I filed a civil rights complaint against them,” Fishback said. “They turned around and sued me, and have been suing me now for two and a half years.”
Newsweek reached out to attorneys for Greenlight Capital for comment.
Why It Matters
Fishback wrote on X in February, “President Trump and @ElonMusk should announce a ‘DOGE Dividend’—a tax refund check sent to every taxpayer, funded exclusively with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE.”
Musk, who led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the time, replied, “Will check with the President.”
President Donald Trump in February said he supported giving money saved by DOGE back to Americans: “There’s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20 percent of the DOGE savings to American citizens, and 20 percent goes to paying down debt, because the numbers are incredible.”
The proposal has not moved forward.
Fishback announced on Monday that he will be running for the Republican nomination in Florida’s 2026 gubernatorial race. “I want to make it easier for folks in Florida to get a great paying job, to buy a home, to raise a family and then, when it’s all said and done, to retire with dignity. That’s my goal. That’s why I’m in this campaign,” he said.
What To Know
Attorneys for Greenlight Capital filed a motion to compel turnover of luxury personal property on Tuesday, alleging that Fishback has failed to make payments on the outstanding balance of judgment.
Fishback said in an August deposition that he did not have the means to pay it.
“Since the entry of the Judgment, however, Fishback has been purchasing luxury items through his debit card, thumbing his nose at the Judgment while accumulating valuable physical assets,” attorneys for Greenlight Capital said in the motion.
The legal team alleged that he has made purchases from Burberry, Tom Ford, Louis Vuitton and other brands and retailers exceeding $37,000 from March 14, 2024, through July 18, 2025.
Fishback countered that there is no evidence. “I don’t have any luxury goods, they’re saying Tom Ford, Burberry, where is the evidence that I have all this?” he said.
What People Are Saying
Fishback, to Newsweek: “They claimed this motion of luxury items. What are these luxury items? They haven’t identified a single one.”
Edward H. Davis Jr., Juan J. Mendoza and Miguel E. Del Rivero, attorneys representing Greenlight Capital, in a motion to compel turnover of luxury personal property: “Since the Judgment was entered on March 31, 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and since the registration of the Judgment in this Court, Fishback has continued to live extravagantly and has failed to make any payments to satisfy the judgment.”
What Happens Next
The court has yet to rule on the motion to compel.
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