A class action lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York accuses Meteora co-founder Benjamin Chow of orchestrating a $57 million memecoin fraud using celebrity names to attract investors.
The case was filed on Tuesday, Oct 21st, by investors who claimed Chow and his partners used figures like Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei to promote tokens such as $LIBRA, $MELANIA, $ENRON, $M3M3, and $TRUST. The plaintiffs — Omar Hurlock, Anuj Mehta, and John Winslow — allege the group tricked investors through fake endorsements, and insider-controlled liquidity pools to inflate token prices before dumping them for profit.
A “Fraud Factory” Disguised as DeFi
In the court filings, the lawsuit described how the “Meteora-Kelsier Enterprise” operated as a “fraud factory” pretended to be a normal DeFi project. Chow and his partners, including Hayden Davis from Kelsier Ventures and Jupiter co-founder Ng Ming Yeow, allegedly made up stories and borrowed fame from real people to gain trust.
According to the complaint, they used tools inside Meteora’s Solana-based system to control how and when people could trade the tokens. This let insiders buy large amounts early and stop trading when prices were high, which allowed them to dump their coins while investors were left with losses.
Court filings explain that wallets linked to the scheme were used to fund deployer accounts, seed liquidity, and finance early trades that created false demand.
“These faces and brands were used as props to legitimize what was actually a coordinated liquidity trap.” Plaintiffs said that Melania Trump and President Milei were not to blame and were only “window dressing” for the scheme.
Collapse and Legal Fallout
The $LIBRA coin was launched in February 2025 and advertised as a project to support small businesses in Argentina. It gained quick attention after Milei’s verified X account shared its contract address, but the token collapsed within hours after. The complaint says the deployer wallet withdrew over $110 million in liquidity, and left investors with worthless coins. Milei later deleted the post and faced a separate fraud probe, though Argentina’s anti-corruption office said he broke no ethics rules.
The $MELANIA coin followed a similar path, with its price crashing by over 60% within days. Chow stepped down from Meteora in February, saying he had no tokens or insider information. The plaintiffs are seeking full repayment and triple damages under U.S. RICO laws, accusing the group of fraud, conspiracy, and deceptive business practices.
