Designers of Melania Trump cryptocurrency face fraud charges

22.10.2025
The designers of a cryptocurrency launched by US First Lady Melania Trump in January were accused in court filings on Tuesday of organizing the operation knowing that the digital currency’s value would plummet.
The $MELANIA coins were released for just a few cents each on January 19, the day before her husband Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States.
Within hours, the $MELANIA coin’s price had soared to $13.73.
However, it then collapsed almost as quickly and is now only worth around 10 cents — less than one percent of its peak price.
In newly filed court papers, investors accuse the executives of the Meteora cryptocurrency exchange platform, on which $MELANIA was initially traded, of setting up a scheme that allowed them to indirectly purchase large quantities of this virtual coin.
Their accomplices then quickly resold these digital currencies, pocketing substantial profits while causing the price to plummet, according to documents filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court and initially reported by the news website Wired. AFP