Judge freezes $57 million worth of $LIBRA proceeds
A United States judge has ordered Circle to freeze over $57 million worth of USDC—said to be the proceeds of Argentine President Javier Miliei's $LIBRA pump-and-dump—in a court order made Tuesday.
It's the latest episode in a sprawling saga that began with the launch of $LIBRA, a token billed as an investment into the Argentine business. The price of the token ran up rapidly after President Milei publicly endorsed it. The token crashed shortly after, causing a political crisis for Milei and leaving countless investors holding the bag.
The freezing order is part of a proposed class action lawsuit filed against Kelsier Ventures, the organization apparently behind the token, and Meteora, the platform used to sell it. The lawsuit also names a group of individuals, including Kelsier CEO Hayden Davis and family members Thomas and Gideon Davis, as defendants. As described in the lawsuit:
'The Defendants marketed $LIBRA as an investment in 'Argentine small businesses' when it was nothing of the sort. They sold the token through a platform, Meteora, that enabled them to manipulate the price of their worthless cryptocurrency so that they could pump it up quickly and then pull out investor money before the price inevitably collapsed.'
Filings in support of the freeze order detail the $LIBRA scam. It claims that the defendants recruited Milei and other touters to promote the token upon launch, while withholding most of the supply from the public to make the price easier to manipulate.
The proposed plaintiff class representative Omar Hurlock said that almost $58 million worth of USDC—the proceeds of the pump and dump—were in Circle wallets controlled by Davis and that the freezing was necessary to prevent the defendants from dissipating them.
'With a few keystrokes, the Defendants could transfer all of the $LIBRA proceeds held in cryptocurrency, including the contents of the Subject Wallets, beyond the reach of this court and the victims to whom they rightfully belong,' reads the freeze request.
Yesterday, the court agreed: it made an order preventing the defendants from accessing the assets. The order also applies to Circle (not a defendant), who must freeze all USDC in the relevant wallets.
Who is Hayden Davis, CEO of Kelsier Vetures?
The freeze is a preliminary step in what promises to become a large class action lawsuit: Hurlock says the defendants stole more than $280 million via the $LIBRA scam.
After the token crashed and criticism over the project mounted, Davis posted a video to Twitter, presenting himself as an advisor to the Argentine president and conceding that 'things didn't go according to plan' with the $LIBRA launch. Though he promises to return 'every single dollar that was collected from fees, or farming or liquidity,' the class action lawsuit accuses Davis and his co-defendants of seeking to avoid responsibility for the $LIBRA fiasco.
'He was an architect of the $LIBRA scam. He had committed other cryptocurrency frauds before and after $LIBRA unravelled. He (and his family member co-defendants, Thomas and Gideon) have been avoiding service. Most importantly, Davis has shown precious little interest in refunding $LIBRA purchasers, commenting 'it's horseshit that people would throw all their life savings into these' and blaming his victims for making a 'completely speculative investment.''
Hayden Davis and Kelsier involved in $MELANIA scam
Indeed, details on Kelsier Ventures are scant. Its website is now defunct, but a version of it appears to still be accessible. It does not contain any details on other projects in which Kelsier has been involved.
According to Bubblemaps on X, Hayden Davis was also involved in the $MELANIA pump and dump, which similarly saw investors flock to a vaguely politically-affiliated coin only for it to crash dramatically shortly after.
Davis remains a free man, lawsuits notwithstanding. However, scrutiny is ramping up: federal prosecutors in Argentina are investigating the incident, and there have been calls for an international arrest warrant to be issued for Davis. There's no indication that has happened—yet.
What's next
For now, those affected by the $LIBRA scam can be assured that a large portion of its proceeds are now frozen and inaccessible to Davis and his co-defendants. Both the defendants and Circle will have an opportunity to appear before the Judge on June 9, where they can argue why the injunction should not be extended for the duration of the lawsuit.
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