Argentine prosecutor Eduardo Taiano has opened an investigation into President Javier Milei and several cryptocurrency businessmen over their role in the $LIBRA cryptocurrency scandal.

On February 14, Milei posted on social media about a cryptocurrency known as $LIBRA, which was linked to a private project called Viva La Libertad (Long Live Freedom) supposedly intended to finance small Argentine companies. Hours later, he erased the publication. 

The price of a $LIBRA token spiked after his post, before nosediving. Developers withdrew around US$100 million from the project during this period, driving accusations that the operation constituted a “pump and dump,” as well as allegations of insider trading. 

The president eventually wrote another post stating that he had deleted the previous one because he was not aware of the particulars of the project. However, critics have alleged that the timing of Milei’s publication and the information it contained would not have been possible without prior co-ordinated action.

The investigation has been opened as a result of a lawsuit that was filed the next day by lawyers from the Right to the City Observatory think tank and the economist Claudio Lozano, accusing Milei of criminal association, fraud, and dereliction of duty.

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The probe “seeks to establish the circumstances of time, manner and place that surrounded the creation and launch of $LIBRA, and what participation Javier Milei, Hayden Mark Davis, Julian Peh, Mauricio Gaspar Novelli, Manuel Terrones Godos and Sergio Daniel Morales had in the events under investigation, which may fit the crimes of abuse of authority, fraud, influence peddling and bribery,” read a court document, which the Herald has seen. 

Hayden Mark Davis is the chief executive officer of Kelsier Ventures, the company that launched $LIBRA. Julian Peh, chief executive officer of KIP Network and KIP Protocol, which was involved in its development. Novelli and Godoy are organizers of Tech Forum Buenos Aires, where Milei and the others met in October 2024. Morales worked at Argentina’s National Securities Commission (CNV, by its Spanish initials).

The prosecutor has called on a special cybercrime unit to collaborate on the investigation, and has called for other public bodies and private companies to provide reports.