Argentine lawyers accuse President Milei of fraud over cryptocurrency promotion

Argentine lawyers filed fraud complaints against President Javier Milei in criminal court on Sunday for promoting a cryptocurrency on his social media, one of the lawyers told The Associated Press.

Argentine lawyers filed fraud complaints against President Javier Milei in criminal court on Sunday for promoting a cryptocurrency on his social media, one of the lawyers told The Associated Press. On Friday, Milei posted on X about $LIBRA, a coin that he said was aimed at “encouraging economic growth by funding small businesses and startups.” He deleted the post a few hours later and the value of the currency collapsed, causing millions of dollars in losses to its brief investors, according to financial site Dexscreener. The coin, developed by KIP Protocol and Hayden Davis, could be obtained by accessing a link that directed users to a website called vivalalibertadproject.com, referring to the well-known phrase with which Milei closes speeches and messages on his social media. The President’s Office said in a Saturday statement that Milei was not involved in any stage of the cryptocurrency’s development and decided to remove the post to avoid speculation and limit further exposure, following the public reaction to the project’s launch. Jonatan Baldiviezo, a lawyer and one of the plaintiffs, told the AP that they saw 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.