US first lady Melania Trump was used as a “front” in a multibillion-dollar meme-cryptocurrency scheme that defrauded investors and enriched its creators, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. The first lady is not named as a defendant in the suit and has not been accused of any wrongdoing, with her team also believed to have been misled.
The case is related to the $Melania token, which the 55-year-old first lady promoted on her social networks in the run-up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January.
In her post at the time, she wrote:
“The official Melania meme is now online! You can buy $MELANIA now.”
Many of Trump’s supporters bought the token, which sent its price soaring to a record $13.73 a piece. By Wednesday, however, $Melania had fallen below 10 cents in what was described as a colossal crash.
The investors filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in April against Benjamin Chow, co-founder of crypto exchange Meteora, and Hayden Davis, co-founder of crypto venture firm Kelsier Labs, and others, WIRED reported Tuesday.
The plaintiffs asked this week to file an amended complaint in which they accuse Chow of acting as “boss”which is “launched, artificially inflated and dumped” at least 15 different cryptocurrencies including $Melania. According to the lawsuit, the defendants made millions of dollars in profits.
The first lady is not named as a defendant in the suit and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
However, in a separate lawsuit on Wednesday, Trump biographer Michael Wolff filed a lawsuit against Melania, alleging that she tried to obstruct a “legitimate journalistic investigation” into the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The cryptocurrency’s lawsuit specifically states that Melania is not among its targets. He suggests that her team was also duped, as were the investors.
“Melania Trump’s team, to the extent that they gave any consent, did so without knowledge of the fraud, internal manipulation or deceptive mechanisms involved in the token launch. If they were aware that the project was part of a coordinated criminal scheme, they would have immediately withdrawn any consent.” the complaint says.
The Trump family has been deeply involved in the crypto market since last summer. In September, The Wall Street Journal reported that they made $5 billion in profits in the sector.
In May, Donald Trump hosted a dinner for holders of his own memcoin, $Trump, at his golf club in Virginia.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
#Melania #token #named #lady #United #States #involved #cryptofraud #lawsuit