Obama's half-brother gets busted in crypto scheme

Malik Obama is facing a large backlash over a crypto scheme that went wrong, Newsweek reports. 

For those unfamiliar with Malik Obama, he is the older half-brother of former President Barack Obama. They are related through their father, Barack Obama Sr.

Malik Obama has received a lot of media attention over the years. This, in part, is because of his relation to the former president. But, it is also for another reason - namely, that Malik Obama has gone in a politically different direction from his brother.

There will be more on this in a moment. But, first, we'll look at this crypto scheme that went wrong.

Here's what happened:

As many others have done in recent months, Malik Obama decided to launch a meme coin that he named $0BAMA. Things, however, did not go as planned.

Newsweek reports:

Malik Obama, the older half-brother of former president Barack Obama, has issued an apology to those who lost money after he was supposedly pressed to launch a meme coin, $OBAMA. The token's price crashed within a few hours in what appears to be the latest pump and dump scheme to sweep the crypto world.

For those unfamiliar with a "pump-and-dump" scheme, it is when, according to Newsweek, "small groups of investors inflate their value by generating community buzz, only to cash out once the coin peaks and leave the majority counting their losses."

Obama took to his X account to explain what had happened. He wrote:

Hello folks. Someone paid me a little bit of money to launch $OBAMA, and said it would be great promotion for my book and that I would make a lot of money. I didn't realise they were bad actors. I'm sorry to anyone who lost out.

Now, it would appear that Obama has parted ways with these people.

More background on Malik

As mentioned at the outset, one of the reasons why Malik Obama has garnered so much attention over the years is because he has gone in a very different direction, politically speaking, from that of his brother.

Malik Obama, believe it or not, has been a supporter of President Donald Trump.

Just ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Malik Obama made it clear that he would be voting for Trump.

"I am Malik Obama. I’m a registered Republican and I’m voting for President Donald Trump," he wrote at the time.

Malik, though, has not stopped there, he, in the past, has also referred to his brother, Barack Obama, as a "deep disappointment."