Wishing to ride the lifting of the ban on the social network TikTok in the United States, one of the co-founders of the Students for Trump association created a memecoin bearing the image of this event. However, the actions of the principal concerned suggest that he has developed a crypto scam to make profits at the expense of investors.
Co-founder of pro-Donald Trump association accused of being at center of crypto scam
In the United States, the association Students for Trump has pursued only one goal since its creation in 2015: to ensure that Donald Trump be elected in the presidential elections and remain president of the country. Its two founders, the activists John Lambert and Ryan Fournier, are particularly known for their striking actions, but also for being accused of crimes and scams of all kinds.
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So, Ryan Fournier had already been arrested and charged with physical assault in 2023. Now he is at the center another affair around cryptocurrencies. The co-founder of Students for Trump is accused of rug pull after having acquired and then sold half of the supply of a memecoin created to celebrate the lifting of the ban on TikTok on American soil.
This weekend, on a Spaces offered on the social network the idea of a TikTok-themed memecoin in collaboration with a crypto investor known under the pseudonym Asta.
The latter created the TIKTOK token and allowed Ryan Fournier to own half of the cryptocurrencies put into circulation. In a few hours, given the excitement surrounding the return of TikTok to American soil, the value of the token has climbedallowing it to achieve a capitalization of 90 million dollars.
However, the price suddenly started to drop. Ryan Fournier, who had in the meantime obtained additional tokens by purchasing them, exchanged all of the 505 million TIKTOK he had in his possession for $700,000 in Solana (SOL).
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For many in the crypto community, the rug pull is obvious
On X, accusations of rug pull flew. The co-founder of Students for Trump tried to justify his approach. “ All of a sudden, Asta sold, and then I sold, so I don't know what happened… I think this guy is a fraud and I think he just scammed me and I agreed, » he explains.
However, several members of the crypto community have pointed out that Asta's wallet did not show any sales of TIKTOK tokens. Ryan Fournier responded to this by saying his former partner had supposedly acquired his tokens from other wallets.
Furthermore, Asta defended himself, saying that indeed, he had never sold his tokens. “ As almost everyone knows, I sent the 50% of TIKTOK to Ryan Fournier. It was basically all my stash and I just wanted to start a cool movement. […] Right after, he sold all his stock. I don't know what to say… » Asta clarified on X.
hi as almost everyone knows, i feel the 50% of $TIKTOK to @RyanAFournier
It was basically all of my supply and I just wanted to start a cool movement, now that the coin has reached a 60m market cap it would have been really cool if I held the coin, I would completely understand if…
— asta (@astaxsol) January 19, 2025
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For his part, Ryan Fournier insisted on several occasions that he was just starting out in the world of cryptocurrencies. “ You're talking to a newbie here with cryptocurrencies. I can barely tell if I can sell anything. I'm new, okay? I admit I made a mistake by simply trusting this guy, » insisted the main person concerned, saying he would stay away from this ecosystem in the future.
Staying away from Crypto.
I tweeted a few times today about $Trump and a newly created coin called $TikTok.
I had someone reach out earlier, and they wanted to make a coin to support TikTok's comeback.
That turned out to be a chaotic mess, because I was scammed by said…
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) January 19, 2025
Finally, one last fact does not work in favor of the co-founder of Students for Trump. In the past, Ryan Fournier had promoted a memecoin called Restore The Republic (RTR)ensuring that Donald Trump was involved in the launch of this token. The son of the 47th President of the United States, Eric Trump, refuted the claimdeclaring that all this was “ absolutely false “.
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Investments in cryptocurrencies are risky. There is no guaranteed high return, a product with high return potential involves high risk. This risk-taking must be in line with your project, your investment horizon and your capacity to lose part of this savings. Do not invest if you are not prepared to lose all or part of your capital
Surprised by the rise of crypto-assets at the end of the 2010s, I began to closely follow this sector which fascinates me to the greatest extent. When I'm not in football stadiums, rugby stadiums or handball halls, I work on writing relevant articles around cryptocurrencies and more broadly, Web3.
Zacharie Tazrout
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