First Lady's Meme Coin Creators Facing Pump-and-Dump Fraud Legal Action
The developers responsible for a cryptocurrency introduced by First Lady of the United States Melania Trump are now charged in court filings of executing a pump-and-dump scheme.
Coin Release and Price Surge
The $MELANIA cryptocurrency were released for just a few cents each on the 19th of January, the day before former President Trump took office.
Alongside the First Lady's token, Donald Trump released his $TRUMP coin shortly prior to the presidential inauguration.
Within hours, the value of the $MELANIA cryptocurrency skyrocketed to nearly $14 per coin.
Sudden Collapse in Value
Nevertheless, the value plummeted almost as quickly, and currently stands at approximately a dime – under 1% of its highest value.
Meanwhile, the $TRUMP token hit a high of nearly forty-six dollars and presently sells for under six dollars.
Legal Allegations and Investors' Arguments
The claimants assert that the token's architects planned the scheme aware that the token's worth would plummet.
The First Lady personally is not mentioned in the court case. Claimants clarified they do not consider she was culpable, but charged the digital currency firms of using her and other familiar faces as window dressing for their fraudulent schemes.
Trading Venue Involvement
As per fresh court papers, investors charge executives of the Meteora trading platform, where the First Lady's token was first exchanged, of setting up a scheme that enabled them to indirectly purchase substantial volumes of the digital token.
Associated individuals then promptly liquidated these virtual tokens, earning significant gains while leading to the value to crash, according to papers submitted in federal court in Manhattan.
Broader Context
The charges regarding the First Lady's coin have been incorporated into judicial actions concerning several other cryptocurrencies, which began in spring.
The Trump organization has according to reports earned in excess of one billion dollars in pre-tax profits from several digital currency-linked products and companies over the past 12 months.
