First Lady's Digital Currency Architects Hit with Pump-and-Dump Fraud Legal Action
The architects responsible for a cryptocurrency introduced by First Lady of the United States Melania Trump have been alleged in federal papers of orchestrating a market manipulation plot.
Coin Release and Value Spike
The $MELANIA cryptocurrency were made available for just a few cents each on the 19th of January, just prior to Donald Trump assumed the presidency.
Alongside the First Lady's token, the former president introduced his $TRUMP coin shortly prior to the inauguration ceremony.
Within hours, the price of the $MELANIA coin skyrocketed to over $13 per token.
Rapid Decline in Price
Nevertheless, the market price plummeted with similar speed, and is now only about 10 cents – below 1% of its highest value.
At the same time, the $TRUMP token reached a peak of $45.47 and currently exchanges for under six dollars.
Court Claims and Investors' Arguments
The claimants allege that the token's architects executed the maneuver knowing that the digital currency's value would decline sharply.
Mrs. Trump herself is not mentioned in the court case. Claimants indicated they do not believe she was culpable, but alleged the digital currency firms of leveraging her and other prominent figures as a facade for their criminal operations.
Exchange Platform Role
As per fresh court papers, claimants allege leaders of the Meteora digital asset exchange, where the First Lady's token was initially traded, of setting up a operation that permitted them to secretly buy significant amounts of the digital token.
Their partners then promptly liquidated these cryptocurrencies, earning significant gains while triggering the price to plummet, according to papers submitted in federal court in Manhattan.
Wider Proceedings
The claims regarding the First Lady's coin have been included in court cases regarding multiple additional cryptocurrencies, which started in spring.
The Trump family has reportedly generated more than $1 billion in pre-tax earnings from multiple digital currency-linked products and companies over the last year.
