First Lady's Digital Currency Architects Hit with Market Manipulation Fraud Lawsuit
The developers responsible for a virtual coin launched by First Lady of the United States Melania Trump are now alleged in court filings of orchestrating a market manipulation plot.
Initial Launch and Value Spike
The $MELANIA tokens were made available for just a few cents each on the 19th of January, the day before Donald Trump took office.
In addition to the $MELANIA coin, Donald Trump launched his $TRUMP coin a few hours before the swearing-in event.
In a matter of hours, the price of the $MELANIA token skyrocketed to nearly $14 per unit.
Rapid Decline in Price
However, the market price subsequently crashed with similar speed, and is now approximately a dime – below 1% of its peak price.
At the same time, the $TRUMP cryptocurrency achieved a maximum of nearly forty-six dollars and currently exchanges for $5.79.
Court Claims and Plaintiffs' Position
The plaintiffs allege that the token's architects executed the scheme aware that the cryptocurrency's price would crash.
The First Lady herself is not included in the legal action. Investors clarified they do not consider she was culpable, but charged the digital currency firms of leveraging her and other well-known personalities as a facade for their illegal activities.
Exchange Platform Role
As per fresh federal filings, investors charge officials of the Meteora trading platform, where Melania's coin was originally listed, of creating a scheme that allowed them to secretly buy large quantities of the cryptocurrency.
Their accomplices then rapidly offloaded these virtual tokens, securing large returns while causing the value to crash, per records entered in Manhattan federal court.
Broader Context
The allegations about $MELANIA have been incorporated into judicial actions involving several other cryptocurrencies, which started in April.
Trump-associated entities has reportedly earned in excess of one billion dollars in pre-tax profits from several cryptocurrency-related enterprises and organizations over the previous twelve months.
