Melania Trump’s name is at the center of a massive federal class-action lawsuit, but the First Lady herself hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing. Investors are suing several crypto entrepreneurs over the collapse of the $Melania memecoin, a digital token she promoted in January as President Donald Trump launched his second term.
Just before Donald Trump’s inauguration this year, Melania shared a post on social media: “The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now.” Her endorsement sent Trump supporters racing to grab the coin. The buzz pushed $Melania’s price to a peak of $13.73, yet in less than three months, its value had crashed below 10 cents.
The legal fallout hasn’t touched Melania, but it’s sweeping up figures behind the scenes. In April, coin holders banded together to file a class action suit in federal court. The defendants are Benjamin Chow, co-founder of crypto exchange Meteora, and Hayden Davis, who leads venture firm Kelsier Labs, among others. The lawsuit, covered by WIRED, claims investors were misled and manipulated, and the crypto insiders pocketed millions.
According to documents, Chow was allegedly the “commander” who “launched, pumped, and dumped” at least 15 coins, including $Melania. The suit alleges an orchestrated effort to attract buyers, then abruptly sell off holdings for massive profit, a textbook rug pull leaving everyday investors with near-worthless tokens.
Melania Trump was ‘window dressing’ in memecoin scam, lawsuit claims
First lady’s image exploited ‘to sell legitimacy to unsuspecting investors, new legal filing argues pic.twitter.com/oUGC3beJMi— Simo Saadi🇺🇸🇲🇦 (@Simo7809957085) October 22, 2025
It should be noted that the lawsuit makes it clear that Melania Trump is not a direct party, nor is she accused of scheming. Lawyers state, “Melania Trump’s team, to the extent it granted any permission, did so without knowledge of the fraud, the insider rigging, or the deceptive launch mechanics. Had they been aware that the project was part of a coordinated criminal scheme, they would have rescinded any consent immediately.”
What makes $Melania’s crash even more dramatic is the broader context of the Trump family’s booming crypto ventures. Since last summer, President Trump and relatives have reportedly pocketed billions in profits. Wall Street Journal coverage from September claims “the family has made $5 billion in profit from the industry.”
The president’s own coin, $Trump, has become a center piece of political fundraising and fan engagement. In May, President Trump hosted a dinner at his Virginia golf club for elite holders of the $Trump coin, which further showed how well the Trumps’ crypto ventures were going.
While Melania has not been directly accused of any wrongdoing in this crypto legal battle, she did get entangled in another lawsuit, involving the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
As reported by The Daily Beast, “she was separately sued Wednesday by Trump biographer Michael Wolff for allegedly trying to stifle ‘legitimate inquiry’ into Jeffrey Epstein.” Interestingly, it is not only Melania whose name is now getting dragged into the Epstein files controversy. The whole Trump administration is now dealing with the consequences of both Trump and Pam Bondi promising the release of the Epstein client list.
Moreover, as Virginia Giuffre’s memoir finally came out after her death, the pressure to release the files is now higher than ever. A victim of Epstein from an early age, Giuffre has detailed her suffering and fight for justice in her memoir, titled Nobody’s Girl.
Now with Melania’s name getting involved in the Epstein scandal, it would be pretty difficult for the Trump administration to deal with public outrage regarding the files.
