Ben Chow accused of defrauding investors with Melania and LIBRA memecoins

• Class action lawsuit accuses Meteora and Ben Chow of fraud
• Memecoins used the names of Melania Trump and Javier Milei
• Investors allege manipulation and losses in crypto tokens

Meteora co-founder Ben Chow is accused in a class action lawsuit of leading an alleged fraud ring involving memecoins such as Melania (MELANIA) and Libra (LIBRA). According to the revised complaint filed Tuesday, Chow and other Meteora executives allegedly created and promoted a series of tokens based on public figures to attract investors and then carry out liquidity trap schemes.

The authors of the process claim that the team at Meteora and Kelsier Ventures, a marketing firm led by Hayden Davis, "borrowed credibility" from well-known figures, including U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei. "These faces and brands were used as props to legitimize what was, in fact, a coordinated liquidity trap," the complaint states.

According to the lawsuit, these public figures were "merely fronts" for a scheme operated internally by the aforementioned companies. The memecoin MELANIA, promoted as Melania Trump's "official token," experienced explosive growth shortly after its launch but subsequently collapsed, with developers accused of quickly selling off their holdings. The same pattern was observed with LIBRA, launched as a project to support small Argentine businesses, but which lost value within hours of reaching its peak.

Argentine President Javier Milei even promoted the token on his X account, before deleting the post after the LIBRA crash. Although he was named in investigations, Milei was exonerated by Argentina's anti-corruption agency, which concluded there was no violation of public ethics.

The class action lawsuit also involves co-founders Ng Ming Yeow (of Meteora and Jupiter) and members of the Davis family of Kelsier Ventures. In total, Benjamin Chow, Meteora, Kelsier Ventures, Hayden Davis, Gideon Davis, and Charles Davis are named as defendants. The document lists at least 15 allegedly fraudulent tokens, including LIBRA, MELANIA, ENRON, TRUST, and M3M3.

In February, Chow stated on X that neither he nor Meteora "received any tokens or possessed any inside information related to the Libra project." Shortly after the controversy, he resigned as a co-founder of the company.

There have been questions regarding Meteora and my involvement in $LIBRA , so I want to explain our role and share why we work with 3rd parties.

Meteora and I personally, have never received or managed any tokens on the side, do not receive knowledge or get involved with any…

— benchow.sol (@hellochow) February 17, 2025