US Consumer Advocacy Group Calls for Federal Probe into Trump’s Meme Coin

Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization, has filed a formal complaint against Trump’s meme coin, calling for a federal probe. The group alleged that the President violated the rules around solicitation of gifts by meme promotion.

Public Citizen filed the complaint on Wednesday with the US Department of Justice and the Office of Government Ethics. The organizations’ co-president Lisa Gilbert calls the meme coin a “major ethical issue.”

“He’s scamming his supporters and getting rich while doing it.”

Trump is selling his meme coin as a way for people to "show their support."

He's scamming his supporters and getting rich while doing it.

Our co-president @Lisa_PubCitizen explains why this is a MAJOR ethical issue. pic.twitter.com/7T59noeloI

— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) February 6, 2025

The complaint letter cited several social media posts from both X (formerly Twitter) and Trump’s own platform Truth Social. These posts promote “Official Trump Meme,” urging people to send money. Trump apparently reposted both on January 20^th and 21^st, following his inauguration.

Furter, the complaint stressed that Trump himself had declared that the meme is not an investment. Per the meme coin website, Trump memes are “not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.”

“A person sending money for a Trump meme is not purchasing a tangible product,” the Public Citizen letter noted. “Instead, the person receives only a digital blockchain receipt, similar to a donor sending a check and receiving digital confirmation that the check was received.”

Bartlett Naylor, a financial services advocate at Public Citizen said that Trump’s soliciting money from public for personal enrichment would be “reprehensible abuse of the presidency.”

“The Department of Justice and Office of Government Ethics owe it to the American people to thoroughly investigate whether Donald Trump’s solicitation is in violation of the law, and, if it is, take appropriate action to stop it,” Naylor said in a statement.

Public Citizen Complaint Letter Slams Trump Meme Coin for Allegedly Violating Gift Solicitation Laws

Additionally, the complaint has also raised concern that the Constitution bans accepting from “king, prince, or foreign state.” However, it is difficult to know if foreign state actors are gifting the President by way of purchasing a Trump meme, given the nature of crypto exchanges.

If the probe finds out $Trump meme coin has violated federal law, authorities should take immediate action to address it, the letter concludes. The action includes termination of the meme coin sale, it added.

The complaint arrives after crypto observers mocked the meme launch as without value. One user wrote that Trump meme is a “brazen corruption” and is effectively a ‘for sale’ sign on the White House. It facilitates anonymous bribes in any amount, the comment read.

1. Donald Trump took the oath of office yesterday — the first person to be sworn in as president while hawking an eponymous meme coin

It is brazen corruption $TRUMP is effectively a "For Sale" sign on the White House, facilitating anonymous bribes in any amount

Follow this…

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 21, 2025

Meanwhile, former White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci, said that the President’s meme coin is “bad for the industry.”

“Don’t delude yourself. It’s Idi Amin level corruption,” he wrote.

The Trump meme coin stuff is bad for the industry. Don’t delude yourself. It’s Idi Amin level corruption.

— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) January 18, 2025