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The developers responsible for a virtual coin launched by US First Lady Melania Trump have been accused in federal papers of planning a pump-and-dump scheme.

Initial Launch and Price Surge

The $MELANIA tokens were released for just a few cents each on January 19th, just prior to Donald Trump assumed the presidency.

Together with the First Lady's token, Trump himself released his own digital currency a few hours before the swearing-in event.

Within hours, the value of the $MELANIA cryptocurrency skyrocketed to over $13 per coin.

Sudden Collapse in Value

Yet, the market price then collapsed with similar speed, and currently stands at less than 15 cents – less than 1% of its highest value.

Meanwhile, the $TRUMP token hit a high of over forty-five dollars and now trades for approximately five seventy-nine.

Legal Allegations and Investors' Arguments

The plaintiffs allege that the coin's creators organized the scheme conscious that the token's worth would crash.

The First Lady herself is not mentioned in the lawsuit. Claimants clarified they do not think she was culpable, but alleged the crypto companies of leveraging her and other well-known personalities as a facade for their illegal activities.

Exchange Platform Involvement

In newly filed court papers, claimants charge leaders of the Meteora cryptocurrency exchange, where $MELANIA was first exchanged, of setting up a scheme that enabled them to discreetly acquire substantial volumes of the cryptocurrency.

Associated individuals then rapidly offloaded these digital currencies, pocketing substantial profits while triggering the price to plummet, according to papers submitted in Manhattan federal court.

Broader Context

The allegations regarding $MELANIA have been included in court cases concerning various other virtual tokens, which started in April.

The Trump family has allegedly secured in excess of a billion dollars in pre-tax earnings from multiple cryptocurrency-related ventures and firms over the last year.