A new class action lawsuit has emerged implicating Benjamin Chow, the founder of Meteora, as the key figure behind the controversial meme coins associated with Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei. While Melania and Milei promoted these tokens, known as MELANIA and LIBRA, the lawsuit suggests they were not responsible for the alleged fraudulent activities surrounding these “scam tokens.”
The legal action, filed in Hurlock v. Kelsier Ventures, identifies Chow as the central perpetrator of the scheme. The lawsuit details the collaboration between Chow and others, including the Kelsier Ventures team led by Hayden Davis, to launch at least 15 different tokens modeled on a similar blueprint. The complaint specifies that the tokens were merely vehicles used to create a liquidity trap while lending credence to their existence through the connection to high-profile public figures.
The MELANIA token, which gained significant attention after its January launch—just days after Trump released his own token—saw a meteoric rise before plummeting by 99%. In a parallel story, the LIBRA token, promoted by Milei, also experienced an impressive spike before its value collapsed by 90% in a short time frame. Post-launch, on-chain analytics connected the two tokens to the same wallets used by their promoters, fueling the class-action lawsuit.
Plaintiffs assert that instead of the celebrities being at fault, it was Chow and his associates who executed a scheme to mislead investors. Chow, who resigned from Meteora amid rising scrutiny, allegedly managed the fraud through his close team, including co-founder Ng Ming Yeow and members of the Davis family.
In an interesting twist, while a judge has ordered some funds linked to the LIBRA token to be unfrozen, they expressed skepticism regarding the plaintiffs’ chances of winning the case. Chow has not publicly responded to inquiries about the allegations.
As this legal drama unfolds, it appears that significant scrutiny will continue to focus on the operations and figures behind these controversial cryptocurrency ventures.
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