A group of investors have filed a class-action lawsuit against the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Meteora, accusing the company of manipulating the issuance and market price of the M3M3 token. The lawsuit was filed on April 21, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs allege that venture capital firm Kelsier Labs, Meteora, and four current or former executives deliberately misled investors during the M3M3 token issuance in December 2024. Investors claim to have suffered losses of at least 69 million USD between December 2024 and February 2025, having been misled to believe that the token was supported by "trusted leaders" within the Solana ecosystem, while its price was artificially manipulated to inflate its value. The complaint states that the inflated valuation misled non-insider investors, causing them to erroneously rely on market prices as a measure of value. This case is one of many lawsuits involving cryptocurrency companies accused of violating U.S. securities laws. Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reduced enforcement actions against digital assets during the Trump administration, it still plans to pursue fraudulent token projects. Meteora is also involved in several controversial token issuances, including tokens related to Trump, Melania, Libra, and internet celebrity Haliey Welch. The lawsuit mentions that Meteora sought to enhance the legitimacy and credibility of M3M3 through the involvement of co-founder Ben Chow. Similar lawsuits have also targeted Kelsier Ventures, KIP Protocol, and Meteora concerning the fraudulent issuance of the Libra token.

A group of investors has filed a class-action lawsuit against decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Meteora, alleging the firm was involved in manipulating the launch and market price of the M3M3 token.
In an amended complaint filed on April 21 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the plaintiffs allege that venture capital firm Kelsier Labs, Meteora, and four current or former executives “intentionally misrepresented” information in the M3M3 launch in December 2024. 
The investors claimed that they suffered at least $69 million in losses between December 2024 and February 2025 after the parties presented “trusted leaders in the Solana ecosystem” as being behind the token launch, rather than a “blatant fraud” in which sales were manipulated to artificially inflate the price.
“This artificially-inflated valuation communicated highly misleading information to non-insider investors, who reasonably relied on Defendants’ representations that the $M3M3 launch was fully accessible to the public and conducted in a transparent manner fair to non-insider investors, and thus reasonably relied on $M3M3 market price as a meaningful measure of its value,” the complaint reads. “The post-launch price spike also served to corroborate Defendants’ aggressively-marketed, but misleading, assertions that $M3M3 had intrinsic value and a comparatively low risk profile.”
Class-action lawsuit against Meteora, Kelsier Labs, and current and former executives. Source: PACER
The lawsuit is one of many involving different crypto firms that have alleged fraud through violations of US securities laws. Though the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under acting chair Mark Uyeda since US President Donald Trump took office, has scaled back or dismissed many enforcement actions involving digital assets, the agency said in February it still intended to pursue cases against fraudulent token projects.
The investors added:
“Together, Defendants designed the $M3M3 Token and planned its launch on Meteora in a manner intended to illicitly enrich themselves at the expense of the unsuspecting investing public.”
Related: Meteora says co-founder’s X account hacked after ‘parasitic’ memecoin post
Memecoins in the Solana ecosystem
Meteora has been tied to the launch of several high-profile yet controversial tokens, including those for Trump (TRUMP), his wife Melania (MELANIA), Libra (LIBRA), and online influencer Haliey Welch (HAWK). 
According to the lawsuit, the firm “purported to offer a comprehensive solution to the problems in the memecoin investment market” with the launch of M3M3. The defendants in the case allegedly attempted to distinguish the token from other notable memecoins by highlighting the “legitimacy and trustworthiness” through the involvement of Meteora co-founder Ben Chow and the platform.
Kelsier Ventures, KIP Protocol, and Meteora face a similar class-action lawsuit filed in New York in March over LIBRA allegedly being launched in a “deceptive, manipulative and fundamentally unfair” manner. Argentine President Javier Milei briefly promoted the token over social media after his sister reportedly received payments from the project.
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Investors sue Meteora and venture capital firms, accusing them of manipulating the issuance and price of M3M3 tokens