Melania Trump's Meme Coin Architects Hit with Market Manipulation Fraud Legal Action
The developers behind a digital token launched by US First Lady Melania Trump have been alleged in legal documents of orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme.
Initial Launch and Value Spike
The $MELANIA coins were issued for under a dollar each on January 19, one day preceding former President Trump was inaugurated.
Together with the First Lady's token, Donald Trump released his own digital currency shortly prior to the inauguration ceremony.
Within hours, the value of the $MELANIA coin surged to $13.73 per coin.
Sudden Collapse in Price
Yet, the market price plummeted with similar speed, and presently trades for approximately a dime – under a fraction of its highest value.
At the same time, the $TRUMP coin reached a peak of $45.47 and presently sells for under six dollars.
Court Claims and Investors' Arguments
The claimants claim that the token's architects planned the scheme knowing that the cryptocurrency's price would plummet.
Melania Trump herself is not mentioned in the legal action. Claimants stated they do not believe she was at fault, but charged the crypto companies of leveraging her and other well-known personalities as window dressing for their illegal activities.
Exchange Platform Role
According to recently submitted court papers, plaintiffs charge officials of the Meteora trading platform, where $MELANIA was originally listed, of establishing a operation that enabled them to discreetly acquire significant amounts of the digital token.
Their partners then rapidly offloaded these digital currencies, earning significant gains while causing the value to crash, per documents filed in New York federal court.
Wider Proceedings
The claims regarding $MELANIA have been incorporated into legal proceedings concerning several other cryptocurrencies, which started in April.
The Trump family has reportedly earned more than $1 billion in pre-tax earnings from various digital currency-linked products and companies over the last year.
