First lady not named in suit in which investors allege Meteora executives created coin they knew would plummet
The designers of a cryptocurrency launched by the US first lady, Melania Trump, in January were accused in court filings on Tuesday of orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme.
The $MELANIA coins were released for just a few cents each on 19 January, the day before Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president. In addition to $MELANIA, Donald Trump launched $TRUMP a few hours before his inauguration.
Within hours, the $MELANIA coin’s price soared to $13.73.
However, it then collapsed almost as quickly, and is now only worth about 10 cents – less than 1% of its peak price. $TRUMP traded at a peak of $45.47 and now goes for $5.79, according to Coin Market Cap.
