Trump's Get-Rich-Quick Schemes Leave Retail Investors Reeling $7 Billion Loss

Vadim Fistikan, a Washington-state truck driver, invested $205,000 in Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and Truth Social. His investment is now worth just $30,000.

Fistikan was not alone; thousands of ordinary investors were swept up in the mania surrounding TMTG and other Trump family ventures. Between 2021 and 2025, five such projects raised money from retail investors, including World Liberty Financial, the Trump meme coin, the Melania Trump meme coin, and American Bitcoin.

The playbook for these ventures was straightforward: conjure up a business out of thin air, commit almost no personal capital but seize the vast majority of equity, whip loyal followers into a frenzy to cash out as much as possible, and sit back as the assets crash and carve up whatever residual value remains. Every single project has landed in the crash-and-remnants phase.

The Trump family has cashed out a cumulative $1.9 billion, still netting $3.1 billion overall; investors collectively have lost roughly $7 billion. Nick Pinto, another investor, attended an invitation-only dinner at Trump's golf club in Virginia for top 220 meme coin holders by position size. The event turned out to be both absurd and shoddy.