“Bodyguard Coin” Scam? Ryan Fournier, a well-known Trump fan, was caught in the MEME token fraud scandal

Author: Zen, PANews

In the conservative political circle of the United States, Ryan Fournier has gained fame as a student organization leader and Trump supporter. However, in the cryptocurrency world, as a "crypto novice", he has become the focus of a series of controversial incidents.

From the rapid collapse of the “TIKTOK” memecoin that just occurred, to the suspected hype of the “Restore The Republic” (RTR) token in the name of Trump, Fournier’s figure has appeared at the center of the storm time and time again. Perhaps due to translation issues, the Chinese community thought it was Trump's bodyguard and called this Meme coin "Bodyguard Coin."

Who is Ryan Fournier?

Ryan Fournier is an American conservative activist, political commentator, and co-founder and national chairman of Students for Trump. As a star figure in MAGA, he is famous for his "vanguard" image in supporting Trump on social media. For example, Fournier launched a boycott of Walmart in 2018 after the company sold T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Impeach 45.”

In 2015, while attending Campbell University in North Carolina, Fournier co-founded Students for Trump with John Lambert, an organization that aimed to mobilize student support for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. As the national chairman of the organization, Ryan Fournier actively participated in related activities and soon became a youth representative in the MAGA camp.

However, in 2021, John Lambert was sentenced to 13 months in prison by a federal judge for operating a sham law firm. Although Ryan Fournier allegedly helped John Lambert co-found the fake law firm in 2016, he was not charged because he had been assisting federal law enforcement since around April 2018, according to a document filed by federal prosecutors. However, in November 2023, Fournier was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in Johnston County, North Carolina, for grabbing his girlfriend's right arm and pistol-whipping her.

Fournier: Selling 50% of memecoin, but I’m not cheating

Last Sunday, when TikTok resumed online in the United States local time, Ryan Fournier stated in X Space that he teamed up with a memecoin trader Asta to launch the TikTok-themed memecoin “TIKTOK”. Asta claimed responsibility for creating the token and sent 50% of the supply to Fournier, keeping 1% for itself.

Perhaps affected by the "super surge" performance of TRUMP and MELANIA tokens, the value of TikTok also surged rapidly after its launch, with its market value soaring to a maximum of nearly $90 million. During this period, Fournier posted screenshots of his account holdings on the X platform, showing an amount of up to US$19 million. At the same time, Asta also wrote excitedly on For $60 million, it would be really cool if I held the token.”

After Asta's post, Fournier immediately sold all the TikTok tokens he held. "Just after I posted, he sold all his inventory. I don't know what to say." Less than 10 minutes after the last post, Asta posted another post to express his disappointment. According to a wallet that Fournier previously identified as starting with 9H , he exchanged 505 million TIKTOK tokens for SOL worth approximately $700,000 at 20:28 UTC on Sunday. This operation caused the price of TIKTOK tokens to quickly plummet to zero.

The incident sparked strong dissatisfaction in the community, with many condemning Fournier's actions. Fournier argued that Asta suddenly sold TIKTOK first, and then I followed suit. "So I don't know what happened... I thought the guy was a liar and I thought he just scammed me and I went with him."

Fournier also repeatedly insisted that he was new to the cryptocurrency space and was confused by some of the terminology. "You're talking to a newbie in crypto. I don't even know if I could sell anything." Fournier denied profiting from the sales in X Space, claiming he was "almost in a position" after buying and then selling the tokens. loss status". He also posted on X that he would stay away from cryptocurrencies in the future until he better understands who to trust as he looks forward to working for President Trump’s new administration. However, in Space, he boasted about his ties to Trump’s cryptocurrency advisor.

When someone showed off a screenshot of Fournier showing off his holdings, Fournier responded: "Yes, you can look at my account and that number is indeed accurate. Because the person who created the token obviously manipulated the price. I thought that The numbers are real." This response was criticized and ridiculed by many traders, who said that Fournier was really a greedy clown. "Fournier did not understand the slippage mechanism of cryptocurrency trading. He thought he would get the total amount shown on the interface after selling, but he actually only got a small part of the funds."

"He said he would never sell, and he was contacting Tik Tok. This guy really stole so much money." Asta, another protagonist of this incident, also criticized Fournier in his response. Although there is no evidence that Asta made a large profit in this incident, as the "initiator", the community's attitude towards him is mostly critical, and many people say "you should also go to jail."

In fact, as a newcomer to the crypto world, Fournier has not been exposed to cryptocurrencies for a long time, but this is not the first time he has caused controversy.

RTR Token Incident: Using Trump’s Name to Cause Controversy

When the Trump family launched its own DeFi project to enter the currency circle, Fournier caused a controversy six months ago.

“We are about to shake up the cryptocurrency world with a big thing. Decentralized finance is the future, don’t fall behind.” In August 2024, Trump’s two sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. By posting tweets, the two not only expressed their love and support for cryptocurrency, but also announced major events in the industry. Since then, the "World Liberty Financial" project has been officially put on the agenda, which also marks that Trump not only verbally supports cryptocurrency, but also wants to be deeply involved in it.

Just as industry confidence was boosted, rumors suddenly appeared on the X platform that the memecoin project Restore The Republic (RTR) was related to Trump himself, and the source of this "inside information" was Ryan Fournier. Another well-known kol @SizeChad posted a video saying: "If they don't buy RTR tokens, their T value will be very low" (T value is a metaphor for testosterone value, used to symbolize masculinity). This slogan of "all real men should buy RTR tokens" is also consistent with Trump's preference to emphasize personal "strongness" and "energy" to show his masculine charm.

After this news spread, RTR began to stage a car market, and its token price began to fall sharply after rising sharply. The suspected insider made a profit of US$3.8 million by trading Restore The Republic (RTR) in four wallets. However, the team behind the Restore The Republic X account stated on X Sunday that Fournier was not involved in the project and had not received any RTR tokens from the team. "Ryan is not a member of the team and never has been," they wrote in a statement.

After Eric Trump discovered the rumor, he vehemently denied on X that the token had any connection to his family and denounced Fournier. As soon as the rumors were clarified, RTR’s token price plummeted by 95%. Both Fournier and @SizeChad also deleted previously posted tweets promoting the token.

In addition, Donald Trump Jr. also came out to deny long-standing rumors that the Trump family will launch a Meme coin. He hinted that his family is planning a new blockchain project, saying that the project is "much bigger" than simply launching another meme coin.

However, the magical weekend that just passed told everyone, including Trump Jr., the answer: In terms of scale, the Trump family would be much bigger if they simply launched Meme coins one after another.