First Lady's Meme Coin Creators Facing Pump-and-Dump Scam Legal Action
The architects responsible for a cryptocurrency released by First Lady of the United States Melania Trump have been charged in court filings of planning a pump-and-dump scheme.
Coin Release and Value Spike
The $MELANIA cryptocurrency were released for just a few cents each on January 19th, the day before Donald Trump took office.
In addition to the First Lady's token, the former president introduced his own digital currency just ahead of the inauguration ceremony.
In a matter of hours, the price of the $MELANIA cryptocurrency surged to over $13 per unit.
Sudden Collapse in Price
Nevertheless, the price then collapsed just as rapidly, and currently stands at less than 15 cents – less than a fraction of its highest value.
At the same time, the $TRUMP cryptocurrency hit a high of nearly forty-six dollars and now trades for $5.79.
Court Claims and Investors' Arguments
The investors assert that the token's architects planned the maneuver aware that the token's worth would crash.
The First Lady herself is not included in the legal action. Investors indicated they do not consider she was at fault, but accused the crypto companies of using her and other familiar faces as a facade for their criminal operations.
Exchange Platform Involvement
According to recently submitted federal filings, investors charge leaders of the Meteora trading platform, where the First Lady's token was first exchanged, of establishing a operation that allowed them to indirectly purchase large quantities of the digital token.
Their accomplices then rapidly offloaded these cryptocurrencies, pocketing substantial profits while causing the market to collapse, per records entered in New York federal court.
Broader Context
The claims concerning the Melania token have been incorporated into court cases involving multiple additional virtual tokens, which started in the month of April.
The Trump family has allegedly generated in excess of a billion dollars in pre-tax profits from various blockchain-associated ventures and firms over the past 12 months.
