Meteora co-founder sued for fraud related to MELANIA and LIBRA tokens.

The famous crypto developer, Benjamin Chow, co-founder of the decentralized exchange Meteora on Solana, is being accused of being behind a scheme to defraud investors through 15 different token projects.

According to a class action lawsuit filed for the first time on April 21, 2025, in the federal court of New York, and recently supplemented with new content, Chow, Meteora, and Kelsier Ventures — a company run by Hayden Davis and his relatives — have used the names of U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei to create credibility for projects aimed at defrauding crypto investors.

Mechanism of the scam plan

The initial lawsuit accuses Chow, Meteora, and the Davis family of deceiving investors and manipulating the price of the M3M3 token on Solana — with up to 95% of the supply being held by an insider group.

The new document expands the scope of the allegations, claiming that fraudulent activities occurred with at least 15 different types of tokens, including controversial meme coins like MELANIA and LIBRA, which were promoted by Melania Trump and President Milei. These details are said to be based on private messages provided by a whistleblower, in which Davis admits to having carried out “at least 15 token issuances at Chow's direction.”

The plaintiff argues that Chow and his accomplices “borrowed the prestige” of famous figures to create a facade of legitimacy for the scheme, but did not accuse Melania Trump or Javier Milei of direct involvement. The focus of the lawsuit is on Meteora, co-founder Benjamin Chow, and the management team of Kelsier Ventures.

Activities are organized systematically

The supplemental complaint describes a case that is a systematically organized plan, where each person has a clear role. Chow is believed to be responsible for the technical aspects, thanks to his deep understanding of the source code and his ability to adjust liquidity, route fees, and control the supply of tokens, thus manipulating the value of tokens, driving the price up, and then causing them to collapse without retail investors being aware.

In terms of marketing, Kelsier Ventures, run by Hayden, Charles, and Gideon Davis, has employed influencers and social media campaigns to create an illusion of real demand. The common formula for all 15 tokens is the same: create artificial scarcity, pump advertising information, and when the price rises sharply, insiders immediately dump all the tokens, causing the price to collapse and investors to suffer heavy losses.

Thạch Sanh