A case “used to bring us down”: Argentinian President Javier Milei finally cleared in the investigation for alleged fraud linked to the cryptocurrency $libra

The Argentine courts on Friday dismissed the case for President Javier Milei and his sister Karina in the $libra cryptocurrency affair, with which the head of state had been associated and which had given rise to an investigation for alleged fraud. The investigation, which marked a particularly delicate political episode for the ultraliberal president, followed his relay, or his apparent promotion, on the X platform in 2025, of a cryptocurrency launch, before retracting a few hours later. Transactions estimated at several million dollars had taken place in the meantime.

In his resolution, consulted by AFP, a federal judge dismissed the case, following the request of the prosecution for whom "the facts denounced do not correspond to any criminal qualification". In February 2025, Javier Milei, notoriously hyperactive on social networks, briefly relayed on X "not promoted, but broadcast". Before deleting his message.

In the meantime, the currency had surged then collapsed, causing losses for more than 114,000 virtual wallets, up to $100,000 for some, while a handful gained more than a million each, according to the work of a parliamentary commission of inquiry on the subject.

The commission had, in vain, tried to get the president and his sister, secretary general of the presidency, to be heard by Parliament. “Who is compensating me?” asks Milei Complaints had been filed by organizations and individuals, notably targeting Javier Milei, his sister, and actors in the $libra project, some in the United States.

They had been centralized by a judge and a prosecutor, responsible for the investigation. The controversy had considerably weakened Javier Milei, a few months before the very uncertain mid-term legislative elections in October 2025, which he finally won. The dismissal of judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi also applies to nine other people including the American Hayden Davis, one of the promoters of $libra, and an Argentine crypto lobbyist, without any of them having been the subject of a hearing.

Regarding Javier Milei, the judge followed the prosecution in rejecting the hypothesis of “negotiations incompatible with the exercise of public functions” in connection with the launch of this crypto. Because, he argues, “it has not been found that he intervened, in the exercise of his official functions, in an administrative contract or another operation of an economic nature”. Regarding Karina Milei, who had been in contact with crypto entrepreneurs, bringing them closer to the presidency, he dismissed the hypothesis of influence peddling, because “facilitating a contact or contributing to the organization of a meeting does not, in itself, amount to selling one's influence”.

Javier Milei, who describes himself as a "fanatical techno-optimist", had always denied having any interest in $libra. He explained that he wanted to give visibility to a project likely to finance Argentine tech SMEs. Then retracted, realizing he was “not aware of the details of the project”.

Machine-translated from French