Melania Trump memecoin team ‘uses fame as weapon to disarm diligence’, court filing alleges

The legal filing, filed Tuesday, is the latest update in a case dating back to May, when Burwick Law filed a complaint on behalf of investors against a group of entities that sold memcoins, or cryptocurrencies that have no inherent utility and whose value is tied to the popularity of a joke or person.

The lawsuit targets Benjamin Chow, co-founder of cryptocurrency market making protocol Meteora, and Hayden Davis, who co-founded cryptocurrency marketing and venture capital firm Kelsier Labs. The First Lady has not been named as an accused.

The duo — along with Davis’ father and brother — allegedly orchestrated a scheme where they launched memecoins, bought the tokens shortly after the launch, and then sold them for the highest value to unwitting investors, who were left holding cryptocurrencies whose prices suddenly collapsed. $MELANIA token reached a market cap of over $1.6 billion on January 20 before falling to around $86 million now.

“Defendants portrayed each offering as a fair and decentralized product,” the lawsuit alleged. “However, in reality, this was a pump-and-dump operation pre-designed to extract money from investors.”

The proposed amended complaint is the most in-depth account yet of the memecoin conspiracy that swept the cryptocurrency industry earlier this year and implicated not only Melania Trump, but also… Javier MileyPresident of Argentina. The filing also cites new evidence, including an anonymous whistleblower and previously unpublished text messages from Hayden Davis.

Lawyers for Benjamin Chow, Kelser Labs, and Hayden Davis did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for Burwick Law did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House spokesman also did not respond.

Melania to Miley

Melania Trump promoted $MELANIA coin on X In January. “The official Melania meme is now available!” she to publish.

The lawsuit alleges that Chow has been linked to deceptive practices dating back to 2021. His cryptocurrency venture Mercurial Finance has cost investors millions, and he is “no stranger to insider manipulation,” Burwick Law alleged.

In February, one month after Melania promoted her icon, Argentine President Javier Miley Promoted His memecoin, which he called $LIBRA — only to see its value plummet immediately after its launch. Shortly after, the judge investigated him for fraud.

The First Lady and Miley weren’t the first politicians to endorse their own meme coins. Days before his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump launched his own token. Memecoin peaked at nearly $9 billion in market capitalization but has fallen to roughly $1.2 billion, as of Thursday.