The Argentine anti-corruption office ruled that President Javier Milei did not break any laws regarding the ethics of public office when, in February, he promoted a cryptocurrency called $LIBRA that collapsed within hours.

According to a resolution issued on Friday, the office cleared Milei of any wrongdoing by arguing that the president was presenting himself “as an economist and not a public official” when he spread the news of $LIBRA’s launch on X.

“[Milei’s] personal account was created long before he was elected country president, and even before the beginning of his previous term as deputy. And on the other hand, […] he presented himself as an ‘economist’ and not as a public official,” said the resolution, signed by the office’s head, Alejandro Melik.

The text added that “no state procedure, act, or contract” referred to $LIBRA had been detected.

The anti-corruption office works within the Justice Ministry, and the director is appointed by the government. Melik was appointed by the Milei administration in December 2023. The office also started investigating Milei in the case after the president’s own request.

Apart from the anti-corruption office, the case is being investigated in Argentine, U.S., and Spanish courts. In April, the lower house voted to create a commission to investigate the scandal, but the ruling party has stopped it from even voting for its members.

The $LIBRA scandal 

On February 14, President Javier Milei backed the then-unknown cryptocurrency on X. He claimed the project would allow investors to fortify the Argentine economy by funding small businesses. The post also contained what is known as a “contract number” that allows would-be buyers to find the cryptocurrency, which was not listed on major trading platforms. 

The value of the token soared right out of the gates, eventually surpassing US$5, only to crater to virtually nothing over the next few hours. Thousands of investors lost millions of dollars.

Milei had met with U.S. entrepreneur and $LIBRA creator Hayden Davis multiple times before the token’s launch. Reports suggest the meetings were organized by Argentine businessmen Mauricio Novelli and Manuel Terrones Godoy, who attended some of the meetings between Milei and Davis. Sergio Morales, then an advisor for Argentina’s National Securities Commission (CNV, by its Spanish acronym), was also present in the meetings. 

Morales resigned in March, three weeks after a prosecutor started investigating him over a potential role in the crypto scandal. Sergio Morales. Friday’s resolution also said the CNV should investigate whether Morales used the government’s confidential information for the $LIBRA launch.

The anti-corruption office’s resolution abounds in references to cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, the “new digital ecosystem,” and theories about the complexity of the “distinction between personal and institutional issues”. The text concluded that, even if Milei “alludes to public policies or decisions of his government administration” on X, he does so in “a non-institutional manner” because the account is his and was created before he began his institutional responsibilities.