A new class action lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York accuses Benjamin Chow, co-founder of Meteora, a prominent DeFi project within the Solana ecosystem, of orchestrating a $57 million fraud scheme. Chow and his team allegedly targeted investors using the names of Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei, concealing the multi-million dollar "meme coin" operation with fake celebrity endorsements. The lawsuit also names M3M3, ENRON, and TRUST.
The plaintiffs allege that this organization, which they call the "Meteora-Kelsier Enterprise," was a "fraud factory" disguised as decentralized finance. The documents state that tokens such as $M3M3, $LIBRA, $MELANIA, $ENRON, and $TRUST were created through the Meteora protocol and traded at artificially high prices. According to the filing, the system operated with a six-step plan: first, a "story" would be created around a celebrity or national theme, then the team would collect a large portion of the supply cheaply through wallets they controlled. The price would then be pumped up through influencers, liquidity locks would be bypassed, and insider selling would be conducted, and the same plan would be repeated with a new theme.
The $LIBRA token attracted significant attention when Milei's verified social media account shared its smart contract address. However, hours after the launch, the developer wallet withdrew 110 million USDC, draining the liquidity. Similarly, $MELANIA, touted as "Melania Trump's official meme coin," lost more than 90% of its value in a short time.
Chow's Role and the RICO Charge
The documents allege that Benjamin Chow held both technical and operational control and had the authority to freeze or unfreeze transactions through smart contract parameters. Chow, who left his position in February 2025, also sparked backlash within the Solana community at the time. Videos surfaced following the incident, in which Chow's partner, Hayden Davis, stated, "We snipped our own coin," further bolstering the allegations of fraud.
The lawsuit includes seven counts, including fraud, unjust enrichment, and violations of RICO (organized crime) laws. A US court has issued a restraining order on assets of up to 57 million USDC, while an investigation into the $LIBRA scandal is expanding in Argentina. Two of Milei's advisors were allegedly linked to pre-sale wallets.
Listing on Binance Alpha
While all these allegations were in the spotlight, Binance Alpha announced on the same day that it would add the Meteora (MET) token to its platform and organize a special airdrop for participants. The event, which will begin at 4:00 PM CEST on October 23, 2025, will allow users with at least 226 Alpha Points to claim 32 MET tokens.
