On October 23, 2025, the world of cryptocurrency was rocked by a major class action lawsuit filed in the United States, targeting Benjamin Chow, the co-founder of the blockchain platform Meteora. At the heart of the suit are allegations that Chow, alongside affiliates from Kelsier Ventures and others, orchestrated a series of fraudulent meme coin schemes—most notably the MELANIA and LIBRA tokens—that leveraged the images and reputations of high-profile figures such as former First Lady Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei.
The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, paints a picture of a coordinated “liquidity trap” that drew in thousands of investors with the promise of legitimacy, only to leave them facing catastrophic losses. According to the amended filing in Hurlock v. Kelsier Ventures, the plaintiffs claim that Chow and his partners “borrowed credibility from real-world figures or themes—such as the ‘official Melania Trump’ coin ($MELANIA) and the ‘Argentine revival’ coin ($LIBRA) tied to President Javier Milei. These faces and brands served as props to legitimize what was actually a coordinated liquidity trap.” The filing is clear that neither Trump nor Milei are accused of wrongdoing; rather, they were used as “window dressing for a crime engineered by Meteora and Kelsier.”
The details are as dramatic as they are troubling. The MELANIA token, launched in January 2025 just two days after President Trump unveiled his own TRUMP token, surged in price immediately following its debut. But the euphoria was short-lived. Within months, MELANIA lost approximately 99% of its value, devastating many investors. The LIBRA token, promoted by President Milei on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account, followed a similar trajectory. Its price exploded after the endorsement, only to plummet by over 90% within hours. Milei quickly deleted his post as the token crashed, but not before over 1,300 Argentine citizens reportedly lost significant sums—contradicting Milei’s later televised claim that “no more than five” investors were affected, as reported by Analytics Insight and BeInCrypto.
The fallout in Argentina has been especially severe. The LIBRA scandal has expanded into a criminal probe targeting two of Milei’s aides, after blockchain wallet data linked them to pre-launch transfers of the token. Although Milei himself faces fraud accusations related to the LIBRA promotion, Argentina’s anti-corruption office ultimately concluded that he did not violate public ethics laws. Still, the damage to public trust and the personal finances of many Argentines has already been done.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump sought to revive her Solana-based meme coin with a splashy, AI-generated promotional video. The move caused a brief spike in the token’s price, but the gains quickly evaporated. Analysts flagged $30 million in unexplained token sales from team wallets, raising further transparency concerns, according to Galaxy Research.
The lawsuit’s scope extends beyond MELANIA and LIBRA. Plaintiffs allege that Chow, Kelsier Ventures (run by Hayden, Charles, and Gideon Davis), and other affiliates orchestrated at least 15 meme coin launches using the same deceptive template. The complaint identifies five primary tokens—LIBRA, MELANIA, ENRON, TRUST, and M3M3—as the core of the suspected pattern of fraud. The strategy, as outlined by the plaintiffs, relied on splashy marketing, the exploitation of celebrity or political brands, and sudden, orchestrated price crashes that left everyday investors holding the bag while insiders walked away with millions.
Chow, who resigned from Meteora in February 2025 as the scandal broke open, has consistently denied any wrongdoing. On X, Chow stated that neither he nor Meteora received tokens or insider information, describing their “Dynamic Liquidity Market Maker” as a permissionless tool supporting independent launches rather than a trading entity. The case took another twist when a US judge unfroze $57.6 million in USDC tied to the case, citing doubts about the plaintiffs’ chances of success—a decision that has only fueled further debate among legal observers and crypto market participants.
Regulatory uncertainty looms large over the entire affair. In February 2025, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declared that meme coins are “akin to collectibles,” effectively ending securities-law enforcement for these tokens but leaving fraud cases to agencies like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Analysts warn that this hands-off approach may embolden speculative issuers, as the regulatory vacuum makes it easier for bad actors to exploit unsuspecting investors. Regulators in the UK and Singapore are also weighing whether such tokens should fall under consumer-protection law instead of traditional financial regulation—a debate that remains unresolved.
The scale of the meme coin phenomenon is staggering. According to Galaxy Research, more than 32 million meme coins now trade on the Solana blockchain alone, which holds 30% of all decentralized-exchange volume. Most traders, however, lose money within seconds, while infrastructure operators and token deployers capture the lion’s share of profits—reflecting what some analysts have called a “casino-like” system. An a16z Crypto report found that over 13 million meme coins launched last year, but activity has since fallen by 56% as bipartisan legislation inches closer to bringing clearer oversight to the sector. Analysts suggest that the slowdown in new launches points to early market saturation and growing investor fatigue with celebrity-driven tokens.
For investors who lost money on MELANIA, LIBRA, and the other tokens named in the lawsuit, the road to restitution remains uncertain. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for what they describe as a series of “pump-and-dump” schemes engineered to enrich insiders at the expense of ordinary buyers. The case also names Jupiter co-founder Ng Ming Yeow and several Kelsier Ventures family members as key participants in the alleged fraud.
Despite the high-profile nature of the figures involved, the lawsuit underscores a broader crisis of confidence in the world of meme coins and celebrity-endorsed cryptocurrencies. As the complaint puts it, “Plaintiffs do not claim those public figures were culpable; they were merely the window dressing for a crime engineered by Meteora and Kelsier.” The challenge for courts, regulators, and investors alike is to determine where the line lies between free-market innovation and outright financial misconduct.
As meme coins continue to evolve from internet jokes into global liquidity events, the outcome of this case may set important precedents—not just for the parties involved, but for the future of crypto regulation and investor protection worldwide.
