A businessman who gave the Republican nominee hundreds of thousands in cryptocurrency is facing a class action lawsuit.
A donor who gave Bitcoin that was at the time worth $850,000 to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is facing a class action suit over allegations of fraud, legal filings show.
According to the filings seen by Newsweek, Gary Cardone, who donated 12.8 Bitcoin to the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign earlier this month, stands jointly accused with his company Chargebacks911 and its co-owner, Monica Eaton, of using deceptive practices within the business. The defendants have denied wrongdoing and have tried to dismiss the case without success.
Ahead of November’s presidential election, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the presidential election, have stepped up their fundraising efforts. Harris has reported a surge in donations after President Joe Biden quit the presidential race.
While Cardone’s $850,000 equivalent donation to Trump’s campaign is small in comparison to the reported $50 million his campaign received from billionaire Timothy Mellon, according to federal filings, it is not the first time his donors have come under scrutiny.
The legal complaint against Cardone and the others was filed in 2023 and turned into a class action suit on 13 August 2024. It was filed by Janet Sihler and Charlene Bavencoff, consumers who say they were deceived by Brightree Holdings Limited over the sale of diet pills. Newsweek was unable to find this company’s contact details.
The plaintiffs allege that it was only because of the actions of the accused that Brightree was able to continue sales. They allege that the named defendants, Carone, Eaton and their company sought to minimize the scale of chargebacks to banks and credit card companies from customers seeking refunds for diet pills they had thought were wrongly charged for.
