Melania Trump's Meme Coin Creators Facing Pump-and-Dump Scam Legal Action
The developers responsible for a virtual coin released by First Lady of the United States Melania Trump have been charged in court filings of planning a market manipulation plot.
Initial Launch and Price Surge
The $MELANIA cryptocurrency were released for just a few cents each on January 19, the day before Donald Trump assumed the presidency.
Alongside the Melania cryptocurrency, Trump himself launched his $TRUMP coin just ahead of the presidential inauguration.
Shortly after launch, the market value of the $MELANIA token skyrocketed to nearly $14 per coin.
Rapid Decline in Price
Yet, the price subsequently crashed with similar speed, and presently trades for approximately a dime – below one percent of its peak price.
Meanwhile, the $TRUMP coin reached a peak of $45.47 and now trades for approximately five seventy-nine.
Legal Allegations and Plaintiffs' Position
The claimants claim that the coin's creators executed the scheme aware that the digital currency's value would plummet.
Melania Trump herself is not included in the legal action. The plaintiffs clarified they do not consider she was culpable, but accused the digital currency firms of using her and other well-known personalities as a cover for their criminal operations.
Exchange Platform Involvement
As per fresh federal filings, plaintiffs accuse executives of the Meteora trading platform, where Melania's coin was first exchanged, of setting up a plan that enabled them to indirectly purchase substantial volumes of the cryptocurrency.
Their partners then promptly liquidated these digital currencies, earning significant gains while triggering the value to crash, as stated in papers submitted in New York federal court.
Broader Context
The allegations about $MELANIA have been included in court cases concerning various other digital currencies, which started in the month of April.
Trump-associated entities has according to reports secured over a billion dollars in pre-tax profits from multiple blockchain-associated ventures and firms over the last year.
