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Investors trusted that no one of the first lady's stature "would knowingly associate with a fraudulent venture,” alleges a lawsuit.
The creators of the official meme coin of First Lady Melania Trump are being accused of engaging in a sophisticated fraud scheme in a lawsuit filed by cryptocurrency investors.
As reported by Wired on Tuesday, the allegations against the creators of the Melania coin came as part of a proposed amended complaint that had been filed by investors earlier this year against Benjamin Chow, cofounder of crypto exchange Meteora, and Hayden Davis, cofounder of crypto venture capital firm Kelsier Labs.
According to the proposed complaint, Chow and Davis conspired to run pump-and-dump schemes on over a dozen meme coins they launched, including the Melania coin.
Pump-and-dump schemes involve asset owners who knowingly use false information to hype up the value of their assets before selling them off en masse just before their prices crash.
The plaintiffs claim that the alleged scammers have developed a "repeatable six-step ‘playbook’ for pump-and-dump fraud" that had already been used before it was employed on behalf of the first lady's coin, and that inflicted millions of dollars in losses on investors.
The complaint does not name the first lady as a conspirator, but says that she was merely used as "window dressing for a crime engineered" by Chow and Davis.
Despite President Donald Trump's history of financial fraud, which he was found guilty of in New York in 2024, the complaint states that "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."
Chow and Davis were also responsible to launching the cryptocurrency promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei earlier this year that collapsed in value shortly after its launch.
Max Burwick, an attorney whose law firm Burwick Law is representing the plaintiffs, told Wired that the case "could clarify basic expectations for token launches and disclosures in the US" if it is successful.
According to cryptocurrency news website 99Bitcoins, the Melania meme coin has lost more than 95% of its peak value since its launch in February, and is now trading at under 10 cents per unit.
While Melania Trump was not directly involved in the creation of the now nearly-worthless meme coin, the Trump family was accused last month of the "greatest corruption in presidential history" when it was reported they had added $5 billion in cash to their fortunes when President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency was opened to the public market.
"Healthcare costs are skyrocketing and federal workers aren’t getting paid. What is Trump doing? Building his gold plated ballroom."
A demolition crew on Monday began tearing down the East Wing facade of the White House in order to make way for President Donald Trump's luxury ballroom, in a project that one journalist said "captures" the president's approach to leading the country.
As reported by The Washington Post, workers used a backhoe to rip down the facade, and Trump later described the destruction as the start of a "much-needed project" at the White House.
“For more than 150 years, every president has dreamt about having a ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, state visits, etc.,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, without citing any evidence that "every president" has wanted such a ballroom.
The cost of the ballroom is estimated at $250 million, and Trump is financing it by soliciting donations from some of America's wealthiest corporations—including several with government contracts and interests in deregulation—such as Apple, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, and Palantir. The president held an exclusive White House dinner for some of the largest donors to the ballroom last week, in a move that many critics decried as a "cash-for-access" event.
This is Trump’s presidency in a single photo: Illegal, destructive, and not helping you. pic.twitter.com/KOqk4mADpE
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 21, 2025
The destruction of the East Wing facade comes as the federal government is three weeks into a shutdown that began when Democrats refused to join Republicans in voting for a continuing resolution that would allow crucial healthcare subsidies expire for millions of people, and Trump has shown little urgency in working to end the standoff—during which he's worked to purge the federal workforce.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) shredded Trump for working on a vanity project while government workers have been missing paychecks.
"We are 20 days into the Republican shutdown—healthcare costs are skyrocketing and federal workers aren’t getting paid," she wrote in a social media post. "What is Trump doing? Building his gold plated ballroom."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also blasted Trump for focusing on his ballroom instead of on the needs of the American people.
"Oh, you're trying to say the cost of living is skyrocketing?" she asked rhetorically. "Donald Trump can't hear you over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House to build a new grand ballroom."
Former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich also linked Trump's focus on the ballroom to his lack of urgency in reopening the government.
"Trump hosted a dinner last week for donors helping fund his ballroom project," he wrote Monday. "Today, crews are starting construction and literally tearing down parts of the White House. It's day 20 of the government shutdown and this is what he's prioritizing?"
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) shared an old photo of his family at the White House East Wing before it was torn down and expressed sadness about the president's destruction of the historic building.
"We didn’t need a billionaire-funded ballroom to celebrate America," he said. "Disgusting what Trump is doing."
Prem Thakker, a reporter for Zeteo, added that the destruction of the East Wing was highly symbolic of what the president is doing to the country.
"Trump demolishing the White House to build a $250 million ballroom funded by Amazon, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir," he wrote. "All during a government shutdown, and as he covers up the Epstein files—captures it all pretty well doesn't it."
Thiel also accused environmental activist Greta Thunberg of being one of the Antichrist's "legionnaires."
Right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel recently told an audience that he pushed Tesla CEO and fellow billionaire Elon Musk not to give money to charity and instead horde it so it could be used to battle a future "Antichrist."
According to a Thursday Reuters report, Thiel told attendees of closed-door event in San Francisco last month that he pressed Musk to rescind his commitment to the Giving Pledge, the charitable campaign cofounded by Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates that asks signatories to leave a majority of their wealth to a charity of their choosing.
Thiel said he warned Musk that his wealth was likely to end up going "to left-wing nonprofits that will be chosen by Bill Gates" and that his fortune would be better served to fight against a potential Antichrist figure that might emerge. Musk appeared receptive to these concerns, Thiel added.
Investigations have found that while Musk has pledged donations to charities and has donated money to charitable organizations, the funds have often either benefited his own interests or have not been properly distributed. His philanthropic group, the Musk Foundation, failed to donate the legally required amount to qualify as a charitable foundation last year for the third consecutive year.
He pledged nearly $6 billion worth of Tesla shares—just 2% of his net worth at the time—to the United Nations in 2021 to help feed 42 million people who were at risk of starvation for a year, but instead sent the money to his own foundation.
As Reuters noted, the Antichrist is a figure prophesied in the Christian Bible, and Thiel personally believes that this figure will emerge to "create a one-world government on the promise of something like stopping nuclear, AI, or climate-induced disaster."
The Washington Post, which along with Reuters got a transcript of Thiel's lectures on the Antichrist, added some more context to Thiel's personal conception of the Antichrist in a Thursday report.
Specifically, the Post reported that Thiel told his audience that environmental activist Greta Thunberg and artificial intelligence critic Eliezer Yudkowsky were "legionnaires of the Antichrist."
"In the 17th, 18th century, the Antichrist would have been a Dr. Strangelove, a scientist who did all this sort of evil crazy science,” Thiel said. "In the 21st century, the Antichrist is a Luddite who wants to stop all science. It’s someone like Greta or Eliezer."
The Post also reports that Thiel complained during his lecture that he's had a much harder time in recent years avoiding paying taxes.
“It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money,” he said. “An incredible machinery of tax treaties, financial surveillance, and sanctions architecture has been constructed.”
Thiel, a cofounder of digital payment platform PayPal, has long been an associate of both Musk and Vice President JD Vance, whose 2022 US Senate campaign he generously funded.