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.”
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 20th and 21st, following his inauguration.
“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.
“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.”
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.
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.
Meanwhile, former White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci, said that the President’s meme coin is “bad for the industry.”
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.