Melania Trump is being dragged into a federal crypto lawsuit that accuses two blockchain entrepreneurs of using her image to sell legitimacy to what investors now claim was a multimillion-dollar “pump and dump” scheme.
At the center of the controversy is the $MELANIA coin — a memecoin the first lady promoted on social media back in January. The lawsuit says her likeness was exploited as “window dressing” to lure investors into a scam that enriched its creators and wiped out everyone else.
Melania posted about the coin on X on January 19, the day before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, writing: “The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now.” That post is now a key piece of evidence in the case.
The lawsuit targets Benjamin Chow and Hayden Davis, co-founders of the crypto exchange Meteora and venture capital firm Kelsier Labs. The pair are accused of running a pattern of fraudulent token launches — allegedly using “celebrity association and ‘borrowed fame’ to sell legitimacy to unsuspecting investors.”
An earlier version of the lawsuit, filed in April, focused on a single coin, $M3M3. But the latest filing, submitted Tuesday, expands the allegations to at least 15 tokens — including $LIBRA, tied to Argentine President Javier Milei, and $MELANIA. The plaintiffs claim Chow and Davis “developed a repeatable six-step ‘playbook’ for pump-and-dump fraud,” using hype and influencer marketing to inflate prices before quietly cashing out.
In the case of $MELANIA, the complaint says Meteora handled the technical side while Kelsier funded promotions and paid influencers to push the coin online. “Investors reasonably interpreted the use of Melania Trump’s name and likeness as evidence of legitimacy and due diligence – trusting that no one of her stature would knowingly associate with a fraudulent venture,” the filing states.
Behind the scenes, though, wallets controlled by the defendants allegedly hoarded nearly a third of all $MELANIA tokens before launch. Once Melania’s post sent attention — and prices — soaring, those same wallets dumped their holdings, earning millions while small investors were left holding worthless coins.
“Insiders had already cornered the market before a single public buyer could act,” the lawsuit claims. The sudden sell-off sent the token’s value crashing and left everyday investors facing steep losses.
“The misuse of Melania Trump’s name magnified the harm,” the amended complaint concludes. “It corrupted public trust and injected an element of political and cultural credibility into what was, in reality, a standard pump-and-dump.”
Melania Trump is not named as a defendant in the case. But her association with the coin — and the alleged misuse of her image — has put her squarely in the middle of yet another Trump-world controversy, this time in the chaotic, scam-riddled world of crypto.
