Argentina’s anti-corruption office has exonerated the president in the Libra token scandal

What’s new? Argentina’s anti-corruption office (OA) said that the country’s president, Javier Milei, acted for personal purposes when he promoted the Libra (LIBRA) cryptocurrency and did not violate the country’s public ethics laws.

The regulator’s report

What else is known? Milei promoted the Libra cryptocurrency from his personal X-account as a way to support small businesses in Argentina. After that, Libra’s capitalization began to rise sharply and reached the $4,5 billion mark, but then collapsed 90% in just a few hours on the night of February 14-15. Shortly after the collapse, Milei deleted his post and said he did not know the details of the project.

Following the project’s collapse, opposition politicians called for Milei’s impeachment, and local courts received several lawsuits from affected investors. As a result of the collapse, about 75 000 crypto wallet owners suffered losses of over $250 million.

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In response, Milei’s administration requested an OA investigation “to determine whether “there was improper conduct on the part of any national government member, including the president himself.”

“In short, [Milei’s promotional post], which is not connected to administrative acts, has no allocation of public resources, or institutional support, should be interpreted as an act of individual or private communication that has not generated any official public policy direction of any kind,” the OA’s report states.

The previous investigative unit was dissolved by Milei in May shortly after a judge asked to see the bank records of the president and his sister, who had some ties to Libra’s creators, including Hayden Davis. The government said the unit’s work had been completed and turned over to prosecutors.

The OA’s conclusion marks the end of the administrative investigation, but a federal criminal court investigation is ongoing, and a separate class action lawsuit by investors from Argentina, the US, and the UK is also pending.

Issuer Circle recently froze Davis’ two wallets with $57,6 million in USDC stablecoin assets under a New York court order. According to the court report, Davis first met with Milei on January 30:

“Mr. Davis had and has no ties to the Argentine government and was presented by KIP Protocol representatives as one of their partners in the project.”