Argentine President Javier Miley is accused of fraud

^{Photo: Pilar Olivares / Reuters}
Argentine lawyers Jonathan Baldivieso and Marcos Zelay have filed a lawsuit against the country's President Javier Milley, accusing him of fraud. Earlier, Milley had advertised the $LIBRA memecoin on social networks, which first skyrocketed and then crashed, causing many people to suffer financial losses. According to the AP, Baldivieso claims that the actions of the Argentine president "played a crucial role in the crime committed." Meduza reported on the details of the scandal.

What is a memecoin? It is a cryptocurrency that has no intrinsic value, created for entertainment and to make money from its price increase. Often, the creators of such cryptocurrencies announce in advance that they do not intend to develop the project, but users buy such meme tokens in the hope of making hundreds and thousands of percent profit in a short time.

After the Argentine president's tweet, the price of the $LIBRA meme coin rose by 1,300 percent in half an hour, then fell

On February 14, Javier Milley posted a message on the X social network advertising the $LIBRA cryptocurrency. According to Milley, the "private project" is intended to "stimulate the growth of the Argentine economy by financing small businesses and entrepreneurs in Argentina." "The world wants to invest in Argentina. $LIBRA," the post says. The tweet contains a link to the Vivalalibertadproject website, which contains the phrase "Viva la libertad!" ("Long live freedom!"). Milley usually ends his speeches with this phrase.

A few hours later, Miley deleted the tweet, saying: “I did not know the details of the project and after learning, I decided not to continue promoting it.” The Argentine president also stressed that he had “no connection whatsoever” with the private company that launched the cryptocurrency.

The $LIBRA token was launched on the Solana blockchain, which has a high transaction speed and low fees, which made it popular among memecoin traders. At the time of the launch, the cryptocurrency’s value increased significantly - by 1,300% in half an hour. At its peak, the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization was $4.6 billion, but then the price fell sharply, which is a frequent occurrence with memecoins. Investors lost millions. Memcoin’s capitalization fell to $95 million.

The launch of the cryptocurrency was called a “global fraud.” Argentine President's Office Launches Investigation

Argentine economists and cryptocurrency experts have called the launch of the $LIBRA memcoin a Rug Pull scam — where token holders launch it, quickly attract investors, and then abandon the project and quickly cash out the profits.

Javier Smaldone, a digital security expert known for exposing pyramid schemes, called the launch of the $LIBRA memcoin a "global scam." "It turned out that the profits were approximately $107 million. Probably more," he said.

The Argentine presidential administration said on February 15 that Javier Milley had not participated in the development of the cryptocurrency and had deleted the tweet to prevent speculation and limit the development of the project.

“The president, as he does every day on his personal accounts, shared the news of the launch of the KIP Protocol project with many entrepreneurs who want to launch projects to create jobs and attract investment in Argentina,” the presidential office said in a statement.

According to the presidential administration, Milley immediately called in the anti-corruption department to investigate the situation and “to determine whether there was any wrongdoing by members of the state government, including the president himself.”

He also ordered the creation of an investigative team within the presidential office to conduct an “urgent investigation” into the launch of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency and identify all those involved. “All information collected during the investigation will be forwarded to the judicial authorities to determine whether any crimes were committed by companies or individuals associated with the KIP Protocol project,” the administration said. Meanwhile, Miley's office has acknowledged that the president and his team recently met with representatives of KIP Protocol at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires.

[b]Memcoin co-founder claims Miley made nothing from the project

After the cryptocurrency crash, American entrepreneur and head of Kelsier Ventures, Hayden Mark Davis, who was responsible for the launch of memcoin, said that he was an advisor to Miley and that “he and his team are working on some really great tokenizations and things in Argentina.” Davis blamed Javier Miley for the decline in the value of memcoin. “Despite previous commitments, Miley and his team have suddenly changed their position, withdrawn their support, and deleted all previous messages on social media,” Davis said.

The president’s office said that Davis “does not and never has had any connection with the Argentine government.” At the same time, according to Bloomberg, Miley met with Davis in January because the head of Kelsier Ventures was supposed to participate in the creation of the digital infrastructure for $LIBRA. Miley had learned about the project a few months ago. However, on February 15, Miley said that he knew nothing about the project.

Among those who have been hurt by the launch of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency is investor and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. He called the event “the biggest scam in history,” although he managed to keep some of his investment. According to Portnoy, Davis invited him to participate in the launch of the project and also offered to interview Miley. Portnoy invested in the project after Miley’s tweet. “I bought it like an idiot. I hadn’t bought anything until Miley tweeted,” Portnoy said.

Hayden Mark Davis denies that the launch of the $LIBRA memcoin was a Rug Pull scam. “I don’t want to be public enemy number one. I didn’t make any money from this. My life is on the line,” he said. Davis also said, “Miley didn’t make any money from this.” He noted that the Argentine president will soon give a television interview and support the $LIBRA memcoin, after which its price may rise again. According to Davis, among the project participants is businessman Manuel Terrones Godoy, who was previously accused of fraud in digital investments.

Milley's opponents are demanding impeachment. But the president is probably not in any danger

Javier Milley's political opponents are trying to take advantage of the crisis. Former Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, who was previously convicted of corruption and sentenced to 6 years in prison, called Milley a "crypto fraudster." The head of the Civic Coalition party, Maximiliano Ferraro, called on parliament to conduct an investigation and identify the perpetrators. Some politicians are threatening to impeach Milley, but, as Bloomberg writes, parliament is unlikely to vote for such a decision.

Miley may be spared the serious political fallout from the cryptocurrency scandal, as Argentina has seen low inflation, rising wages, and a growing economy. According to polls, the president's approval rating has been hovering around 47 percent for months, while other political forces in Argentina are no more popular than him. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”