Melania Trump's Meme Coin Creators Facing Pump-and-Dump Fraud Legal Action
The architects behind a cryptocurrency released by First Lady of the United States Melania Trump are now charged in federal papers of executing a market manipulation plot.
Initial Launch and Price Surge
The $MELANIA coins were issued for a minimal price each on the 19th of January, the day before Donald Trump was inaugurated.
Alongside the $MELANIA coin, Donald Trump released his own digital currency a few hours before the presidential inauguration.
Within hours, the value of the $MELANIA token soared to $13.73 per unit.
Sudden Collapse in Value
However, the value then collapsed almost as quickly, and presently trades for less than 15 cents – less than a fraction of its peak price.
Meanwhile, the $TRUMP token achieved a maximum of over forty-five dollars and presently sells for under six dollars.
Court Claims and Plaintiffs' Position
The plaintiffs allege that the currency's developers planned the scheme conscious that the digital currency's value would crash.
Melania Trump herself is not included in the legal action. The plaintiffs indicated they do not consider she was at fault, but charged the blockchain organizations of leveraging her and other prominent figures as a cover for their criminal operations.
Exchange Platform Role
According to recently submitted federal filings, claimants accuse executives of the Meteora cryptocurrency exchange, where $MELANIA was first exchanged, of establishing a scheme that enabled them to discreetly acquire significant amounts of the cryptocurrency.
Their accomplices then quickly resold these virtual tokens, pocketing substantial profits while causing the value to crash, per records entered in federal court in Manhattan.
Wider Proceedings
The allegations regarding the First Lady's coin have been added to judicial actions concerning various other cryptocurrencies, which commenced in spring.
The Trump family has reportedly generated in excess of a billion dollars in pre-tax gains from various cryptocurrency-related enterprises and organizations over the previous twelve months.
