Federal Judge María Servini in Buenos Aires received a mandate Monday to investigate fraud allegations against Argentine President Javier Milei over his alleged promotion of a Solana-based crypto that collapsed last week.
The appointment follows multiple fraud charges filed Sunday by Argentine lawyers after Milei briefly endorsed the LIBRA token before its value evaporated, causing millions in investor losses.
Just hours after the charges against Milei were formalized, blockchain analysis platform Bubblemaps uncovered on-chain evidence linking LIBRA's creators to previous failed crypto launches, including January's MELANIA token.
The Argentine presidential office maintains Milei had no involvement in the token's development.
"The president shared a post on his personal accounts announcing the launch of KIP Protocol's project, as he does daily with many entrepreneurs," it said in a statement as quoted by the Associated Press.
Decrypt's coverage of these revelations was later updated to reflect statements from KIP Protocol denying involvement in the LIBRA token's market-making.
Todo Noticias, an Argentine news channel owned by the Clarín Group, conducted a Monday evening interview with Milei, tackling what's been touted by some as the country's 'Cryptogate' as an allusion to former U.S. President Richard Nixon's 1974 Watergate scandal.
“I have nothing to hide," Milei said during the interview, according to a rough translation by Google, adding that he has "no problem coming forward" to face the investigations.
Judge Servini faces no deadline to complete the investigation, which runs parallel to a separate probe by Argentina's Anti-Corruption Office.
Lawyer Jonatan Baldiviezo, one of the plaintiffs, alleges Milei's actions were "essential" in what he describes as "an illicit association to commit an indeterminate number of frauds."
Cryptogate
The controversy first erupted Friday when Milei tweeted about LIBRA as an initiative "encouraging economic growth by funding small businesses and start-ups."
The token's market capitalization briefly surged above $4 billion before crashing 95% after insiders removed $87 million in liquidity.
"As a guy who’s a super technology enthusiast seeing the possibility of a tool to finance entrepreneurs’ projects, I spread the word," Milei said in the interview with Todo Noticias.
Argentina's stock market followed suit, with the S&P Merval, a benchmark tracking the country's largest companies, dropping more than 5% as markets opened on the weekday, marking its steepest intraday decline since July last year.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo attempted to downplay the incident Monday evening.
"Cryptocurrencies are a tiny, infinitesimal world. It's a world of specialists that's very hard to understand," Caputo said, according to a translation generated by YouTube in his interview with La Política Online (LPO).
Notably, Caputo also pointed out that the crypto space is full of "gamblers," using the word timberos, a colloquial word used to denote scams and distrust.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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