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19-02-2025
BUENOS AIRES: Argentine President Javier Milei is facing impeachment calls and legal action accusing him of fraud over his promotion of cryptocurrency on social media.
Milei posted on X, formerly Twitter, about the $LIBRA coin on Friday, which he said would help fund small businesses and start-ups.
He shared a link to buy it, causing its price to shoot up but within a few hours, he deleted his post and the cryptocurrency nosedived in value, losing investors most of their money.
Some opposition members of Congress say they plan to start proceedings to impeach Milei. Meanwhile, lawyers filed complaints of fraud in Argentina’s criminal court on Sunday. Some people online have accused Milei of what is known as a “rug pull” where promoters of a cryptocurrency draw in buyers, only to stop trading activity and make off with the money raised from sales. They pointed out that the link used to buy the coins referenced a phrase the president uses in his speeches but Argentina’s presidential office said on Saturday that the decision to remove the post was to avoid “speculation” following public reaction to the launch of the cryptocurrency.
It said Milei was not involved in the cryptocurrency’s development, and that the government’s Anti-Corruption Office would investigate and determine whether anyone had acted improperly, including the president himself.
Jonatan Baldiviezo, one of the plaintiffs who filed the legal action, told Associated Press “the crime of fraud was committed, in which the president’s actions were essential”.
Former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, was heavily critical, calling him a “crypto scammer” in a post seen 6.4 million times.
For its part, the country’s main opposition coalition said it would file a request to impeach the president, calling it an “unprecedented scandal”.
Esteban Paulon, a member of the opposition Socialist Party, said in a post on X that he would also request the start of impeachment proceedings.
An Argentine judge was assigned on Monday to investigate President Javier Milei’s role in promoting a cryptocurrency that crashed, the latest shockwave from a scandal that has threatened to slow the libertarian leader’s momentum.
Milei late on Friday recommended the little-known crypto coin $LIBRA in a posting on X, kicking off a brief rally. He later deleted the posting and denied having any link to the cryptocurrency, which soon plunged.
The country’s fintech chamber said the case could amount to a “rug pull,” a scam in which a coin’s backers lure multiple investors, sending the cryptocurrency’s value soaring, then quickly withdraw their funds, leaving investors with worthless tokens.
Opposition lawmakers have said that Milei, whose tough austerity program has won plaudits from investors and made progress in taming rampant inflation, could face an impeachment trial over his actions.
Argentina’s benchmark S&P Merval, opens new tab stock index tumbled 5.6%.
The investigation was assigned on a random basis to veteran Federal Judge Maria Servini after local media reported that more than 100 complaints were presented to Argentina’s judiciary and several even to US courts. “Milei’s government is suffering the biggest reputational crisis of its government,” consultancy Wise Capital said, noting that the token was now being labeled as a hoax.
Observatorio del Derecho a la Ciudad, a local NGO, filed a lawsuit accusing Milei and other government officials of illicit association, fraud and breach of their duties as public officials. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
