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The Argentine president Javier Milei is on the verge of facing a judicial ordeal similar to that endured by Donald Trump before reaching the White House. Four political leaders from his country have filed a criminal complaint against him, accusing him of "organized crime," "fraud," and "failure to fulfill public official duties." The accusation arises following the promotion of the cryptocurrency $LIBRA, allegedly linked to a fraudulent scheme.
According to the court document, the alleged "mega scam" would have affected more than 40,000 people, with losses exceeding 4 billion dollars. Milei is identified as a key player in the fraudulent scheme, along with his inner circle, which includes two members of his party and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem.
Chinese businessman Julián Peh, developer of the cryptocurrency through Kip Protocol, and Hayden Mark Davis, representative of Kelsier Ventures and responsible for the project's infrastructure, have also been reported.
The complaint is based on a tweet shared on Friday by the Argentine president, who has 3.8 million followers on X, in which he explicitly endorsed a project based on the cryptocurrency $LIBRA, intended to finance small businesses. Shortly after his post on the social network X (formerly Twitter), the value plummeted. Although he deleted the tweet, he could not prevent the operation from wiping out the savings of thousands of people who had trusted him.
"I was not aware of the details of the project, and after getting informed, I decided not to continue promoting it," Milei explained on X, after deleting the tweet in which he supported the "Viva La Libertad Project," referring to his famously known phrase "Viva la libertad, carajo."
Essentially, the currency was in the hands of very few until Milei's tweet sparked buying, causing the cryptocurrency to rise from 0 to 4.5 euros, reaching a valuation of 4.5 billion. At that moment, the original holders sold what they had, and the pyramid collapsed, taking with it the money of those who had trusted it, encouraged by the Argentine president. This maneuver is known in the finance world as a "rug pull."
This is not the first time Milei has promoted a cryptocurrency. In 2021, when he was a deputy, he endorsed the CoinX platform, which was investigated for fraud, and this has been highlighted by the senator from UCR (center) Martín Lousteau.
Other opposition politicians, such as Maximiliano Ferraro from Coalición Cívica, described Milei's recent intervention supporting a cryptocurrency as a "speculative maneuver" and an improper use of "insider information." With these arguments, he has called on Congress to establish a committee to investigate the matter.
In principle, it is known that the company behind the cryptocurrency is called Kip Protocol, based in Singapore, and is dedicated to decentralized finance. It has also been revealed that Milei met with their representatives: the Chinese Julian Peh, the Argentine Mauricio Novelli, and a young American, Hayden Mark Davis. He received them twice: in October and last January.
Both Peh and Novelli have assured that Milei is not involved in the project intended to finance small and medium enterprises with cryptocurrencies. In a tweet shared on X, Hayden, the young American and third developer of the project, blames the Argentine government for withdrawing support and causing the collapse of the cryptocurrency. Blockchain experts criticize Milei for allowing himself to be advised by a "kid" that no one knows in the field and about whom there is barely any trace on the Internet.
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