Argentina drops investigation into President Milei over crypto fraud

The criminal investigation examined Argentine President Javier Milei and his sister, Karina Milei, over their alleged links to the $Libra cryptocurrency scandal. It mattered because the coin surged after Milei shared it on X, then collapsed within hours, causing major losses for investors and triggering accusations of fraud.

Federal prosecutors asked Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi to dismiss the case. The judge accepted that request and ended the investigation against both Milei and his sister. Court records confirmed the decision.

The judge said the reported events did not fit a legal category and that no criminally relevant deception had been established. The article does not report any criminal charges resulting from this case. Milei had not responded to the dismissal when the report was published, while earlier he had denied promoting $Libra and said he acted in good faith.

Investigators suspected possible fraud because Milei’s social-media post appeared to influence the cryptocurrency’s value. He shared information about $Libra and a link to buy it, while saying the project would help fund small businesses and start-ups. The coin’s price then rose sharply.

The timing was central. Within a few hours, Milei deleted the post, and $Libra’s price collapsed. The article says the crash caused huge losses for the majority of investors. That rapid rise and fall created suspicion that buyers had been drawn in before the market value disappeared.

Some people online described the episode as a crypto “rug pull,” and opposition lawmakers planned impeachment proceedings. Milei denied promoting the coin, saying he had merely shared it. He also said he acted in good faith and deleted the post after learning more about the project.

A cryptocurrency is a digital asset that can be bought, sold, and transferred through computer networks. Unlike ordinary national currency, its price is usually determined by market demand rather than a fixed government value. The article focuses on $Libra, a newly launched cryptocurrency mentioned by Argentina’s president.

Prices can change sharply when many people rush to buy or sell. A prominent social-media post can attract attention and new buyers, pushing the price upward. If confidence disappears, holders may sell at the same time. That sudden selling can drive the price down, especially when the asset has limited trading activity.

The article gives a clear example. $Libra’s price shot up after Milei shared a buying link, then nosedived within a few hours after he deleted his post. The report does not provide exact prices or a numerical loss, but it says most investors lost much of their money.

The article does not state a total dollar amount for investor losses. It describes the losses as “huge” and says the cryptocurrency collapse caused the majority of its investors to lose most of their money. Therefore, the precise financial scale cannot be calculated from the report.

The reported sequence explains how those losses occurred. $Libra’s value shot up after Milei shared a link to buy it. Within a few hours, he deleted his post, and the cryptocurrency’s value nosedived. Buyers who purchased during the rise could then have held an asset worth far less.

The lack of a precise figure does not make the reported impact minor. The losses were serious enough to trigger fraud accusations and plans by opposition members of Congress to pursue impeachment proceedings. Milei argued that investors acted voluntarily and understood the risks, while denying that he had promoted the coin.

When a cryptocurrency linked to a political leader suddenly crashes, investors may lose substantial money and feel that a trusted public figure helped create unjustified confidence. The article says most $Libra investors lost most of their money after the coin’s value collapsed. That makes the issue financial as well as political.

The crash also intensified public controversy. Opposition members of Congress planned impeachment proceedings, while some online users accused Milei of a “rug pull.” The accusation reflected suspicion that buyers were attracted by the public post before trading activity stopped or the value disappeared. Milei rejected that interpretation and said he merely shared the coin.

Public trust can be affected because people may question whether official statements are impartial, informed, or promotional. The article says the presidential office ordered an Anti-Corruption Office review of possible improper conduct. The criminal case was later dropped, but the political and reputational debate may continue, especially because Milei had not responded to the dismissal.

A crypto “rug pull” is a situation in which promoters attract buyers, then stop trading activity and make off with money raised from sales. The term implies that people behind a project deliberately remove the support or access buyers expected. It is different from an ordinary investment loss caused by normal market risk.

The article says some online users applied that label to the $Libra episode. Milei shared a link to buy the coin, its price shot up, and he deleted the post within a few hours. The cryptocurrency then nosedived, leaving most investors with major losses. Those facts prompted accusations, but they do not by themselves prove a rug pull.

Milei denied promoting $Libra and said he only shared it. He also said he did not know the project’s details at first and stopped promoting it after learning more. The judge later found that no criminally relevant deception had been proven, so the article does not establish that a rug pull occurred.

A court generally separates criminal fraud from an ordinary investment loss by examining whether someone intentionally misled others about important facts, acted unlawfully, and caused losses through that deception. A failed project or sharp price drop is not automatically criminal. The precise legal test depends on the jurisdiction and the alleged offence.

In the $Libra case, the key facts included Milei’s post, the buying link, the rapid rise in value, his deletion of the post, and the subsequent collapse. These events created suspicion and led to accusations that investors had been misled. Milei said he acted in good faith, had not promoted the coin, and later stopped sharing it after learning more about the project.

The judge dismissed the case at prosecutors’ request. He said the reported events did not fall under a legal category and that no criminally relevant deception had been proven. That decision means the investigation did not establish criminal fraud on the evidence described, not that the financial losses did not occur.