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Forbes
22-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
$Libra Crypto-Scandal Raises Corruption Allegations Against Javier Milei Administration In Argentina
This is the second part of a two-piece series, read the first piece here Hayden Mark Davis, the mastermind of the $Libra crypto-scandal, and Milei, the participant. The insiders who traded the $LIBRA token with privileged information have been moving funds for at least two months. Phase two of the scam was underway essentially the day after they 'pulled the rug' on the $Libra memecoin. Digital wallets associated to Kelsier Ventures and its now-infamous CEO, Hayden Mark Davis, have been spotted moving millions of dollars across the cryptocurrency ecosystem in what appears to be a series of transactions aimed at covering their tracks and extracting payment. They are also associated to multiple other dodgy crypto operations involving memecoin launches, most notably the $Melania coin. This is one of the beauties of the blockchain, which is ultimately a public ledger where every transaction is visible. Yet that doesn't mean that it is easy to track the ultimate beneficiaries of the funds – whether it is members of the Davis clan, other crypto insiders or Argentine nationals. The usual suspects surface if one looks at the characters who interacted with Davis during his visit to Argentina: Mauricio Novelli, Manuel Terrones Godoy, and Sergio Morales. They were the ones who organized the Tech Forum, a B-level crypto conference sponsored by the government which counted on the presence of President Javier Milei. Novelli, Godoy, and Morales — who has direct ties to Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, the head of state's sister — even got Hayden's Kelsier Ventures to cough up cash in order to sponsor their conference, around $500,000, according to some sources, along with other foreign players such as Julien Peh's KIP Protocol and Bartosz Lipinski's Cube Exchange. These three firms are said to have signed differing levels of agreements with the Argentine government through which the future of blockchain, Web3 and artificial intelligence products in the country would be conducted and channeled by these players, all of which are considered to be secondary actors in the space. Hayden's brother Gideon admitted in a podcast interview (that was successively deleted and then uploaded again) that they had advised Cube and managed to get Milei himself to sign a Letter of Intent (LOI) to lead those initiatives on behalf of the government. La Nación's investigative journalist Hugo Alconada Mon reported that Kelsier's deal included an initial payment worth $300,000, followed by monthly installments worth $250,000 for the following six months, with a potential extension for another two-and-a-half years if they secured deals worth $10 million or more for the country. None of these contracts have made it into the public sphere, yet. Hayden and the rest of the involved parties have gone voluntarily mute. After essentially threatening President Milei, by giving him a 48-hour deadline before liquidating the funds, the CEO of Kelsier Ventures asked the head of state's entourage to reach out to him, indicating that someone from Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni's office was expected to get in touch. Indeed, Adorni joined the President in his February trip to the United States to participate in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an unusual invitation if compared to previous trips. Star political advisor Santiago Caputo, the freelancer in charge of the Milei administration's culture wars, was also brought on board. It wasn't clear if he was being shielded from the attacks that emerged in the aftermath of his controversial intervention in Milei's post-$LIbra scripted interview, during which he cut the recording and instructed journalist Jonatan Viale to skip an uncomfortable question regarding the President's legal strategy. That fragment was later leaked, leading some to believe that it was a purposeful blow by Grupo Clarín, the media juggernaut which recently acquired the local arm of Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica, much to the administration's disappointment. From a political perspective, Milei's February trip to Washington was successful in motivating the grassroots followers (in particular his moment in the spotlight when he gave billionaire Elon Musk a pimped-out chainsaw that the head of the US Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, exhibited to the crowd). They also secured a shout out from US President Donald Trump, who told Milei paternalistically that he is 'proud' of him. It was substantially more successful than Milei's latest US trip, where he visited Mar-a-Lago to receive an award and supposedly secure another picture with Trump, which ultimately ended in Argentina's Foreign Minister pulling the delegation amid yelling and name calling. Trump is said to have been surprised that Milei left fifteen minutes before his arrival. The suspicion of a secret meeting between Milei and Hayden Mark Davis or his entourage remains, even though official sources denied it to Perfil. Initially, Milei's participation in the $Libra scam was attributed to ignorance but as investigations have progressed, the prime suspect has become Karina, the President's de facto gatekeeper and Morales' political boss. These lines of investigation, along with the movement of funds seen on the blockchain, have been aggressively pursued by a handful of investigative journalists, yet Argentina's Judiciary continues to drag its feet. Yanina Nicoletti, Hayden's initial defense lawyer, had posted on social media criticizing the investigation led by federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano for failing to investigate those 'truly responsible' for the $Libra scam. Indeed, after initially sitting on the case for a week, Judge María Servini had delegated the investigation to Taiano, who asked the cybersecurity unit of the prosecution to help him preserve any evidence. He's formally investigating whether Milei, Davis, Peh, Novelli, Godoy, and Morales have committed any crime, an investigation that is disputed by Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, meaning there's a lot going on behind the scenes. Yet, if evidence had to be tampered with or destroyed, the perpetrators had ample time to do so. Initially, the Milei administration managed to avoid a Senate investigation into the $Libra scandal, while the President had ordered the Investigations Task Force to analyze the case. Interestingly, the taskforce team, which responds to the Executive, was going to be run by María Florencia Zicavo – chief-of-staff to Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona, the man who Milei initially suggested would defend him in the courts. Suspicions of previously negotiated impunity go further: Prosecutor Taiano's son Federico is employed by Guillermo Francos, Milei's Cabinet chief and Interior minister. It all stays within the circle of trust, it seems. Ultimately, the disjointed opposition in the Chamber of Deputies managed to secure quorum and win a vote forcing an investigative committee to be put together. It will be a political ordeal, that's for sure, but it will remain a thorn in the Milei administration's side. Milei has tried to double down, pushing forth with his administration's agenda. Yet, the loss of political capital has finally hit the libertarians where it hurts. They tried to impose two Supreme Court Justices by decree, only to see the Senate rebuke them. They have been in the eye of the storm for violent repression of street protests. And the peso-dollar exchange rate had begun to get out of control, forcing them to burn through $3 billion in foreign exchange reserves. The recent deal with the International Monetary Fund should give the President some breathing room, as he tries to recover momentum ahead of the midterm elections that will see him confronting not only the Peronist and Kirchnerist segments, but also former President Mauricio Macri, a recent ally. The $Libra crypto-scandal will continue to lurk in the background, popping its ugly face here and there as journalists, crypto-sleuths, or official investigators manage to push the case forward. In the meantime, Milei will try to ignore it as Davis continues to operate in the shadows, under the tacit protection of the Trump administration's push for deregulation of crypto. This piece was originally published in the Buenos Aires Times, Argentina's only English-language newspaper.
New York Times
28-02-2025
- Business
- New York Times
A Crypto Scam Swindled Argentines. What Did the President Know?
The scandal began with a tweet. 'The world wants to invest in Argentina,' Javier Milei, Argentina's president, posted at 7:01 p.m. on Valentine's Day, offering a code to buy a new cryptocurrency. The digital coin was called $Libra, and it had been created 23 minutes earlier. Over the next few hours, thousands of people invested. $Libra's value skyrocketed. Then it swiftly collapsed. The largest stakeholders had sold their coins, leaving almost everyone else with a collective $250 million in losses. To cryptocurrency veterans, it was a classic 'rug-pull.' A celebrity touts a new digital coin, prices soar and then insiders who own most of the coins pull the rug: They sell their stakes for a big profit at the expense of amateur investors who got in later. To Argentina, it was a national scandal. The president, critics said, had just scammed his constituents. The opposition called for impeachment. Argentine citizens filed a dozen criminal complaints. A federal prosecutor opened an investigation, with Mr. Milei as a target. Then Mr. Milei left for Washington. At the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, he gave a combative speech ahead of President Trump, the other president who promoted a new cryptocurrency this year that soared and then crashed. That coin, $Trump, generated enormous profits for insiders and a cumulative $2 billion in losses for more than 800,000 other investors. Mr. Trump has claimed ignorance. 'I don't know if it benefited' me, he said. 'I don't know much about it.' (The Trump family and its business partners earned nearly $100 million in trading fees alone on the coin.) Following the ballooning $Libra scandal in Argentina, Mr. Milei took a similar approach. He did not earn a cent, he said. Instead, he blamed a small start-up in Singapore, KIP Protocol, that few in the crypto industry had heard of. 'You'll notice that the company that organized the launch, KIP, explicitly stated that I had nothing to do with it,' he said in a prime time interview last week. But Mr. Milei's story has begun to unravel, showing how crypto and politics have increasingly blended to enrich the powerful and take from most everyone else. The origins of the $Libra scandal trace back to a conference in Argentina last year, where an American crypto consultant and an Argentine business partner of Mr. Milei tried to sell access to the president, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times. It eventually led to meetings in the presidential offices and a planned partnership with Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports. Since the crash, evidence has emerged contradicting the president's claims; critics in Argentina have accused his inner circle of taking bribes; and the American consultant, whom Mr. Milei last month referred to as an adviser, has admitted to amassing $100 million from the scheme. 'This is an insider's game,' the American consultant, Hayden Davis, said about crypto coins in a video last week. 'This is like an unregulated casino.' 'A little something-something' The crypto world was excited about Mr. Milei. A libertarian economist, he had said he wanted to open his financially scarred nation to new currencies. So when it was announced that he would speak at a crypto conference in Buenos Aires in October, industry leaders descended. The conference was organized by Mauricio Novelli, a polished 29-year-old stock trader with yearslong connections to Mr. Milei. In 2020, Mr. Milei began teaching at Mr. Novelli's small investing academy and became the school's pitchman, posting repeatedly about it online, up until he was president. In 2022, he posted about a new crypto project from Mr. Novelli, calling it 'an economic model that's sustainable over time.' Not long after, it collapsed. At the conference, Mr. Novelli was charging sponsors $50,000 for a speaking slot and a meet-and-greet with Mr. Milei, according to four attendees who paid the fee. Yet those people said the meeting with the president turned out to be a quick group photo. To get more time, two of them said, conference organizers told them it would cost more. 'They'd say, 'Hey, you know, give us a little something-something and we can get you a meeting,' said Charles Hoskinson, a cryptocurrency billionaire who founded one of the industry's largest platforms, Cardano. Another attendee said Mr. Novelli offered a meeting with the president if the person signed a $500,000 contract for vague 'consulting services,' according to a copy of the document viewed by The Times. But Mr. Novelli was not the only one selling access to Mr. Milei. Mr. Davis — a 28-year-old with curly blonde hair and garish gold glasses whom Mr. Novelli had met at a crypto event in Denver — was also telling conference attendees that he had 'control' over Mr. Milei and could broker deals, according to messages viewed by The Times. 'Everything from Milei tweeting' to 'all the front-facing Milei stuff basically, showing up at things, et cetera — I have control over a lot of those levers,' Mr. Davis said in an audio message to an entrepreneur, obtained by The Times. 'But,' he added, 'there's a cost.' He insinuated that cost could be in the millions of dollars. 'I'm not trying to screw anyone over,' he said, using an expletive. Another entrepreneur said Mr. Davis made an even more brazen offer in writing: He would deliver a meeting with Mr. Milei and a partnership with the Argentine government in exchange for roughly $90 million in cryptocurrencies over 27 months, according to a copy of the proposal viewed by The Times. There is no evidence that Mr. Milei was aware of the proposals. Mr. Davis and Mr. Novelli, through spokesmen, declined to comment. Three months before the conference, in July, Mr. Novelli and Mr. Davis visited Argentina's presidential offices, according to government records obtained by the Argentine newspaper La Nación. The records show their host was the president's sister and chief of staff, Karina Milei. In November, they visited the presidential offices again. Afterward, Mr. Novelli and Mr. Davis toasted with champagne at the Four Seasons in Buenos Aires, telling others they had just signed a deal with the president, according to La Nación. Then, on Jan. 30, Mr. Milei posted a photo of himself and Mr. Davis, saying the American 'was advising me on the impact and applications of' crypto-related technology. 'The KIP Protocol project' Two weeks after that post, a tech entrepreneur in Singapore got an unexpected call from Mr. Novelli. The entrepreneur, Julian Peh, founder of a start-up called KIP Protocol, said he had met Mr. Novelli at the October conference. Mr. Peh was one of the few attendees who actually got a sit-down meeting with Mr. Milei. (He said he paid only to sponsor the event.) But over the next few months, Mr. Peh said, he had no contact with the Argentine president or his office. Then Mr. Novelli called him on Feb. 13 to pitch him on a new project, he said: the launch of a cryptocurrency called $Libra that would ultimately finance small businesses in Argentina. Mr. Novelli described a plan that involved Mr. Davis launching $Libra and Mr. Peh's company, KIP, distributing funds to businesses, Mr. Peh said. It was not his company's forte — KIP built technology related to artificial intelligence. But Mr. Peh said he agreed anyway. A day later, $Libra launched with Mr. Milei's tweet. The president linked to a website describing the $Libra project as having 'a clear mission: to boost the Argentine economy.' At the bottom was a single disclaimer: 'Private Initiative project Developed by KIP Network Inc © 2025.' It was before dawn in Singapore. Mr. Peh said he awoke to confused messages from colleagues: What was $Libra? With the price crashing after the initial boom, Mr. Peh said Mr. Novelli then directed him to post a message on X supporting the coin. Mr. Novelli provided the exact text in English and Spanish, he said. Mr. Peh said he followed the instructions. 'The $LIBRA currency has been a success. We want to thank everyone for their trust and support,' KIP's account posted. 'We would like to clarify that this is a private enterprise project, President Milei was not and is not involved in the development of this project, as he has mentioned himself. This is an entirely private enterprise.' Two minutes later, Mr. Milei's account disowned $Libra. 'I obviously have no connection whatsoever,' his account posted on X. 'I was not aware of the project's details.' He deleted his initial post promoting $Libra. Ten hours after that, Mr. Milei's office released a statement blaming Mr. Peh and calling $Libra the 'KIP Protocol project.' The statement said Mr. Peh had pitched the project to Mr. Milei — and that Mr. Peh had introduced the president to Mr. Davis as a KIP representative. 'Mr. Davis had no and does not have any connection with the Argentine government and was presented by the KIP Protocol representatives as one of their partners,' the president's office said. That appeared to contradict Mr. Davis's earlier visits to the presidential offices, including before Mr. Milei and Mr. Peh met. Mr. Novelli's company also released a statement blaming Mr. Peh and Mr. Davis for $Libra. It said he had earned nothing. Mr. Peh said he realized that he had become the fall guy. KIP 'became a convenient party to provide cover for other parties,' the company said in a statement. 'Deeply rigged' Part of crypto's appeal is that transactions are publicly trackable. So experts dug into $Libra — and found a mess. More than 10,000 crypto accounts, representing 86 percent of investors, lost a combined $251 million, according to Nansen, a crypto data firm. At the same time, the data showed that accounts connected to $Libra's launch reaped enormous sums. Typically, creators of a new cryptocurrency control a large percentage of the supply. But rules programmed into the currency often block those shares from being sold for a set period of time, preventing insiders from taking profits and crashing the price. However, the crypto accounts that created $Libra could sell immediately. Within hours, those accounts — which controlled 80 percent of the coins — had cashed out nearly $90 million, according to Bubblemaps, a crypto analysis firm. Another $33 million in profits went to accounts that were created just hours before the launch — and that then quickly bought and sold $Libra after its release — suggesting that whoever controlled them may have known the coin was coming. Investors were furious. 'It was not only about the losses — it was about the insider activity,' said Nicolas Vaiman, chief executive of Bubblemaps. 'It shows how deeply rigged the game was.' 'Whose money is it?' A crypto rug-pull is usually mysterious: The money disappears, and no one knows who took it. Yet a day after $Libra crashed, Mr. Davis came forward. 'I'm here to set the record straight,' he said in a video posted on X. 'I am indeed Javier Milei's adviser.' Then he criticized Mr. Milei. In a statement, Mr. Davis said Mr. Peh was 'completely innocent' and that 'I can only assume that Milei's associates attempted to shift blame onto Julian to shield themselves.' After that, he gave two interviews on YouTube, including to Dave Portnoy, the Barstool Sports founder. Mr. Portnoy said he had a deal with Mr. Davis to promote $Libra, but pulled out at the last minute. 'Thank Christ,' he said, adding an expletive. In the interviews, Mr. Davis said he had controlled enormous amounts of $Libra and sold those stakes when prices were high. He also said the team that created Libra had quickly bought the coin right after it hit the market — a practice called 'sniping' widely viewed as deceptive in crypto circles. Now he had control of $100 million, he said, and wanted to make things right. 'Whose money is it?' Mr. Portnoy asked. 'I mean, it's, I mean, it's, it's, it's the, I mean, it's the,' Mr. Davis replied, stammering. 'I don't know. I mean, it's definitely not mine. It's, it's Argentina's.' There is no sign that Mr. Davis has returned any money — other than to Mr. Portnoy, who said he lost $5 million on $Libra. In the interviews, Mr. Davis said so-called memecoins like $Libra and $Trump — crude, speculative cryptocurrencies tied to celebrities or online memes — were essentially rigged. Data shows that some recent memecoins may have been backed by the same people. A Bubblemaps analysis showed the crypto account that created $Libra was closely linked to the account that created $Melania, a memecoin promoted by Melania Trump that also collapsed. The two accounts were key cogs in a web of crypto wallets that transferred funds among one another, the analysis showed. On YouTube, Mr. Davis said he was involved in $Melania but did not elaborate on his exact role. Ms. Trump's office declined to comment. 'A careless president' While the cryptoverse was erupting in outrage, Mr. Milei was buffeted by crisis in Argentina. The stock market dipped. A key political ally, former president Mauricio Macri, called him 'careless.' The press labeled the scandal 'Cryptogate.' A federal prosecutor has opened an investigation, including into Mr. Milei's conduct, and Mr. Milei ordered Argentina's anti-corruption office to investigate. Then a more damning accusation arrived: La Nación and the crypto news site CoinDesk published text messages they said showed Mr. Davis telling someone he 'owned' Mr. Milei because 'I send $$ to his sister.' Mr. Milei's sister has long acted as the president's gatekeeper, and he regularly refers to her as 'the boss.' Mr. Milei's spokesman, Manuel Adorni, said bribery accusations were 'insulting.' Mr. Milei and Ms. Milei did not respond to questions from The Times. Mr. Davis has since denied paying either of them. When asked on television if any deputy earned money on $Libra, Mr. Milei answered: 'That's not for me to say. I have full confidence in all my officials.' He backed Mr. Novelli and again blamed Mr. Peh. Yet he added that, regardless, he had little sympathy for the scam's victims. 'If you go to a casino and lose money, what's your complaint?' he said. 'They knew very well the risks.' Three days later, another cryptocurrency billionaire posted that he wanted to bring a new crypto conference to Argentina. 'THANK YOU VERY MUCH,' Mr. Milei replied. 'It would be a great opportunity for our country.'
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Argentina's populist president promoted a meme coin — and now faces impeachment calls
Javier Milei is facing impeachment calls after he promoted a meme coin on social media. The Argentine president endorsed the $libra coin, which surged in value before crashing hours later. Opposition politicians have called the incident an "unprecedented scandal." Argentine President Javier Milei is facing a legal investigation and impeachment calls after he promoted a cryptocurrency that quickly collapsed. Milei endorsed the $libra meme coin Friday in social media posts. He said it would boost the country's economy by funding small businesses and entrepreneurs. His endorsement sent the token soaring from almost nothing to above $4 — before it fell to less than $0.50 just hours later after the posts were deleted, Reuters reported. Observatorio del Derecho a la Ciudad, a nongovernmental organization in Argentina, said some 40,000 people had been affected, with losses above $4 billion. Argentina's main stock index closed more than 5% lower on Monday. Meme coins are cryptocurrencies that are sometimes based on internet jokes, such as doge. Before his inauguration, President Donald Trump and Melania Trump, the first lady, launched their own coins — $Trump coin and $Melania coin. The coins sparked anger in the crypto world, with experts saying the Trumps were making a mockery of the industry. Lawyers in Argentina filed fraud complaints in criminal court over the weekend. Some have speculated that the case against Milei could be classified as a "rug pull," when promoters of a coin attract buyers but then stop trading before it crashes, which allows them to pocket some of the proceeds. Jonatan Baldiviezo, one of the plaintiffs, told The Associated Press that the president's actions meant a "crime of fraud was committed." A judge was assigned on Monday to investigate the case. Argentina's main opposition coalition said it would move forward with its push to impeach Milei, writing in an X post that his involvement in the coin was an "unprecedented scandal." Milei's office said Sunday in a statement on X that the president "shared a post on his personal accounts announcing the launch of the KIP Protocol project, just as he does daily with many entrepreneurs who want to launch a project in Argentina to create jobs and get investments." It added: "Not having been part of any stage of the development of the cryptocurrency, after the repercussions that the launch of the project had and to avoid any speculation and not give it further dissemination, he decided to delete the post." KIP Protocol said on X it was involved with distributing project funds to businesses in Argentina and did not have any role with the coin itself. Ben Chow, a cofounder of Meteora, the platform behind $libra, has stepped down following the controversy, a statement on X from Meow said Tuesday. Meow cofounded Meteora and is behind Jupiter, which calls itself "one of the largest decentralized trading platforms and one of the most active governance communities in crypto." The statement said Chow had "shown a lack of judgment and care about some of the core aspects of the project (given its current size and reputation) over the past couple of months" and had "chosen to resign." Meow also said in the statement: "No one at Jupiter or Meteora committed any insider trading or financial wrongdoing, or received any tokens inappropriately." The law firm Fenwick & West has been hired to investigate and would independently publish a report, Meow added. Read the original article on Business Insider
The Hill
18-02-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Argentine judge investigates fraud case against President Milei over crypto promotion
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A judge in Argentina was selected Monday to investigate allegations of fraud against President Javier Milei for his brief promotion of a cryptocurrency whose value collapsed within hours of its launch last week. Milei distanced himself from the scandal and said he acted in good faith. Milei and his office denied involvement with creators of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency, saying he initially drew attention to it Friday as an entrepreneurial project that might benefit Argentina but learned more about it later and then withdrew his support. Lawyers in Argentina filed fraud complaints against the libertarian President on Sunday. The case was assigned Monday to Judge María Servini, head of Federal Court No. 1 in Buenos Aires. She doesn't have a deadline to finish investigating the allegations. In a tweet Friday evening that coincided with the launch of the $LIBRA crypto coin, Milei said that it was aimed at 'encouraging economic growth by funding small businesses and startups.' It enjoyed a brief spike in value above $4 billion in market capitalization, although its value began to decline amid comments of critics that it could be a scam. Milei deleted the post a few hours later as the value of the cryptocurrency was collapsing in a downturn that caused millions of dollars in losses to many of its new investors. The coin, developed by KIP Protocol and Hayden Davis, could be obtained by accessing a link that directed users to a website called referring to the well-known phrase 'Viva la libertad!' that Milei uses to close speeches and messages on his social media. The president's office said in a statement that Milei was not involved in any stage of the cryptocurrency's development and decided to remove his post to avoid speculation and limit further exposure, following the public reaction to the project's launch. 'The president shared a post on his personal accounts announcing the launch of KIP Protocol's project, as he does daily with many entrepreneurs who wish to launch projects in Argentina to create jobs and attract investments,' the president's office said. After deleting the post, Milei said on X he was unaware of the details of the cryptocurrency, and accused his political opponents of trying to exploit the episode. 'I have nothing to hide and I have no problem coming forward and showing my face,' Milei said Monday in an interview with the Todo Noticias channel. 'Those who entered there voluntarily knew what they were getting into,' he added. 'As volatility traders, they understood the risks involved.' His office said in the statement that the country's Anti-Corruption Office, which operates under the executive branch, would investigate the case. Jonatan Baldiviezo, a lawyer and one of the plaintiffs, said Sunday that the plaintiffs allege that Milei's actions were part of an illicit association to commit 'an indeterminate number of frauds' in the episode. 'Within this illicit association, the crime of fraud was committed, in which the president's actions were essential,' he said.
Arab News
18-02-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Argentine judge investigates fraud case against President Milei over crypto promotion
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: A judge in Argentina was selected Monday to investigate allegations of fraud against President Javier Milei for his brief promotion of a cryptocurrency whose value collapsed within hours of its launch last week. Milei distanced himself from the scandal and said he acted in good faith. Milei and his office denied involvement with creators of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency, saying he initially drew attention to it Friday as an entrepreneurial project that might benefit Argentina but learned more about it later and then withdrew his support. Lawyers in Argentina filed fraud complaints against the libertarian President on Sunday. The case was assigned Monday to Judge María Servini, head of Federal Court No. 1 in Buenos Aires. She doesn't have a deadline to finish investigating the allegations. In a tweet Friday evening that coincided with the launch of the $LIBRA crypto coin, Milei said that it was aimed at 'encouraging economic growth by funding small businesses and startups.' It enjoyed a brief spike in value above $4 billion in market capitalization, although its value began to decline amid comments of critics that it could be a scam. Milei deleted the post a few hours later as the value of the cryptocurrency was collapsing in a downturn that caused millions of dollars in losses to many of its new investors. The coin, developed by KIP Protocol and Hayden Davis, could be obtained by accessing a link that directed users to a website called referring to the well-known phrase 'Viva la libertad!' that Milei uses to close speeches and messages on his social media. The president's office said in a statement that Milei was not involved in any stage of the cryptocurrency's development and decided to remove his post to avoid speculation and limit further exposure, following the public reaction to the project's launch. 'The president shared a post on his personal accounts announcing the launch of KIP Protocol's project, as he does daily with many entrepreneurs who wish to launch projects in Argentina to create jobs and attract investments,' the president's office said. After deleting the post, Milei said on X he was unaware of the details of the cryptocurrency, and accused his political opponents of trying to exploit the episode. 'I have nothing to hide and I have no problem coming forward and showing my face,' Milei said Monday in an interview with the Todo Noticias channel. 'Those who entered there voluntarily knew what they were getting into,' he added. 'As volatility traders, they understood the risks involved.' His office said in the statement that the country's Anti-Corruption Office, which operates under the executive branch, would investigate the case. Jonatan Baldiviezo, a lawyer and one of the plaintiffs, said Sunday that the plaintiffs allege that Milei's actions were part of an illicit association to commit 'an indeterminate number of frauds' in the episode. 'Within this illicit association, the crime of fraud was committed, in which the president's actions were essential,' he said.
