Class action lawsuit claims Ben Chow orchestrated Melania, LIBRA memecoin fraud

Plaintiffs of a class action lawsuit have filed an amended complaint against Meteora and its co-founder Ben Chow for alleged fraud behind the controversial Libra and Melania memecoins.

In the amended complaint filed Tuesday, the plaintiffs claimed that the defendants "borrowed credibility" from real-world figures or themes, such as the official Melania Trump coin (MELANIA) and the Argentine revival coin (LIBRA).

"These faces and brands were used as props to legitimize what was actually a coordinated liquidity trap," the complaint said, referring to U.S. first lady Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei.

Plaintiffs argue that these public figures should not be held responsible, as they were "merely the window dressing" for the alleged scheme orchestrated by Meteora and Hayden Davis-led Kelsier Ventures. Kelsier ran marketing campaigns for the token launches, according to the complaint.

The MELANIA memecoin, promoted as the U.S. first lady's official cryptocurrency, quickly surged then crashed soon after launch, with its developers facing allegations of dumping the tokens. Similarly, LIBRA — marketed as public funding for small businesses in Argentina — soared before plummeting within hours.

Argentine President Javier Milei initially promoted LIBRA through his personal X account but later deleted the post following the token's collapse. Due to the involvement, Milei faces fraud charges related to the LIBRA promotion, while a separate investigation by the country's anti-corruption office concluded that he did not violate public ethics laws.

Accusing Chow

According to the class action complaint, Chow was "at the center of the enterprise," and assembled a team including Meteora and Jupiter co-founder Ng Ming Yeow and the Davis family of Kelsier Ventures to execute the alleged scheme. The class action lawsuit lists Benjamin Chow, Meteora, Kelsier Ventures, Hayden Davis, Gideon Davis, and Charles Davis as defendants.

The complaint alleged that the team launched and marketed at least 15 tokens following a similar pattern, with the lawsuit focusing on five of them — LIBRA, MELANIA, ENRON, TRUST, and M3M3. 

Chow said on X in February that neither he nor Meteora received any tokens or possessed insider information related to the Libra project. Chow then resigned from Meteora in the same month after the controversy came to light.

The Block has reached out to Chow and Meteora for comment.