Political activist Ryan Fournier, known for his co-founding of the Students for Trump organization, has become embroiled in a scandal involving a TikTok-themed meme coin.

Critics are accusing him of orchestrating a rug pull that caused the coin’s value to plummet from a high of $90 million to about $5 million.

Fournier Defends His Actions

Fournier tried to explain the situation in a Sunday night post on X, saying he had been approached by an individual, identified as “Asta” in online discussions, who wanted to create a coin supporting TikTok’s comeback to the United States.

“I said screw it and let’s do it,” the Trump supporter expounded in another post. He subsequently received 50% of the supply of the meme coin, dubbed TIKTOK, and watched as its value soared to unimaginable heights.

At one point, according to a screenshot shared by a user of the social media platform, Fournier’s TIKTOK stash was worth more than $19 million, with the meme coin’s price skyrocketing nearly 18,000%.

However, as the price started to drop, the conservative campaigner decided to cut his losses, swapping 505 million tokens for about $700,000 worth of SOL.

Following the episode, which Fournier described as a “chaotic mess,” an X user accused him of rugging the project, with the 29-year-old blaming his naivety for the debacle. “I’m very new to crypto and I promise you I didn’t rug it,” he replied.

Community Reacts

When challenged to explain his actions by another user, he claimed his decision to sell was driven by fear after he saw the coin’s price going down. “I didn’t want to sell,” he responded. “But I ended up having to sell when it kept dropping.”

Still, that clarification did not stop the criticism, with many accusing Fournier of deliberately draining liquidity from the project.

Some pointed to blockchain data, which apparently showed that his sell-off occurred when the coin was relatively stable, suggesting his actions directly caused the price crash. One detractor summarized the situation bluntly: ‘It’s on chain, dude. You can’t erase where you rugged it.”

The drama comes against a backdrop of heightened meme coin activity spearheaded by the launch of Donald Trump’s official token, followed by another from his wife, Melania.

During a certain period, Trump’s meme coin attained a market value of $15 billion, eclipsing Pepe (PEPE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB). However, the introduction of Melania’s coin rocked the boat somewhat, causing TRUMP to dump 50% of its value and wiping out billions across the broader crypto market.