Melania Trump's Meme Coin Creators Facing Market Manipulation Fraud Lawsuit
The architects behind a cryptocurrency released by First Lady of the United States Melania Trump have been accused in court filings of orchestrating a market manipulation plot.
Coin Release and Value Spike
The $MELANIA tokens were released for just a few cents each on January 19th, one day preceding Donald Trump took office.
Together with the $MELANIA coin, Trump himself introduced his own digital currency shortly prior to the presidential inauguration.
Within hours, the value of the $MELANIA cryptocurrency skyrocketed to $13.73 per coin.
Rapid Decline in Price
Yet, the price plummeted almost as quickly, and is now only about 10 cents – below 1% of its highest value.
Meanwhile, the $TRUMP cryptocurrency achieved a maximum of nearly forty-six dollars and currently exchanges for approximately five seventy-nine.
Court Claims and Plaintiffs' Position
The investors claim that the coin's creators executed the scheme aware that the digital currency's value would decline sharply.
The First Lady herself is not included in the lawsuit. Claimants indicated they do not believe she was culpable, but charged the crypto companies of leveraging her and other familiar faces as window dressing for their fraudulent schemes.
Exchange Platform Role
In newly filed federal filings, claimants allege executives of the Meteora trading platform, where Melania's coin was originally listed, of creating a scheme that enabled them to discreetly acquire substantial volumes of the digital token.
Their partners then quickly resold these digital currencies, pocketing substantial profits while causing the price to plummet, as stated in records entered in New York federal court.
Broader Context
The allegations regarding the Melania token have been added to court cases regarding multiple additional digital currencies, which started in the month of April.
The Trump family has allegedly secured over $1 billion in pre-tax profits from several digital currency-linked enterprises and organizations over the last year.
