First Lady's Digital Currency Creators Hit with Market Manipulation Scam Legal Action
The developers behind a virtual coin launched by First Lady of the United States Melania Trump are now charged in court filings of executing a fraudulent operation.
Initial Launch and Value Spike
The $MELANIA cryptocurrency were made available for under a dollar each on January 19th, one day preceding Donald Trump took office.
Together with the First Lady's token, Donald Trump introduced his own digital currency just ahead of the presidential inauguration.
Within hours, the value of the $MELANIA token soared to over $13 per token.
Rapid Decline in Value
Yet, the value then collapsed just as rapidly, and presently trades for only about 10 cents – below 1% of its highest value.
In parallel, the $TRUMP token achieved a maximum of over forty-five dollars and currently exchanges for $5.79.
Legal Allegations and Investors' Arguments
The investors allege that the token's architects executed the operation conscious that the digital currency's value would decline sharply.
Mrs. Trump personally is not named in the lawsuit. Investors clarified they do not think she was responsible, but accused the blockchain organizations of using her and other familiar faces as a cover for their fraudulent schemes.
Exchange Platform Involvement
As per fresh legal documents, investors charge leaders of the Meteora trading platform, where $MELANIA was first exchanged, of setting up a scheme that allowed them to secretly buy substantial volumes of the cryptocurrency.
Their partners then quickly resold these digital currencies, pocketing substantial profits while leading to the price to plummet, as stated in records entered in federal court in Manhattan.
Broader Context
The charges about the First Lady's coin have been added to legal proceedings concerning various other virtual tokens, which started in the month of April.
The Trump organization has according to reports secured in excess of a billion dollars in pre-tax gains from various cryptocurrency-related products and companies over the previous twelve months.
