Deputies from Argentina’s lower house have voted to create a commission to investigate the $LIBRA scandal, in which retail investors were defrauded of an estimated US$280 million after President Javier Milei posted about the crypto token on social media.

The motion was approved with 128 votes in favor, 93 against, and 7 abstentions. The commission will begin on April 23. Key figures of Milei’s administration are set to be questioned the day before, on April 22. Those questioned will include Chief of Staff Guillermo Francos, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona and the head of the National Securities Commission, Roberto Silva. 

Lower house President Martín Menem has until April 15 to sign the resolution establishing the investigative committee. Party blocs have until April 11 to propose commission members.

How the $LIBRA scam unfolded 

On February 14, the price of $LIBRA skyrocketed after President Javier Milei spread news of its launch on social media, before tanking within hours. Milei deleted his original posts around five hours after making them. Over 75,000 retail investors lost an estimated US$280 million in the wake of the alleged ‘rug-pull’ scam. The events sparked serious questions over the nature of the president’s ties to the project — and what responsibility he might bear.

Milei had previously held meetings with people involved in $LIBRA’s launch, including businessmen from the U.S., Singapore, and Argentina who are now being investigated in local and foreign courts. 

In the following days, Hayden Mark Davis, the owner of the Delaware-registered Kelsier who launched the $LIBRA coin, stated he had been “working as an advisor” to Milei’s administration and accused the President of “betrayal” after the deletion of the social media posts about the cryptocurrency.

On April 1, Treanor Law Firm announced it was preparing a lawsuit over the case — the second to be filed in the United States. The firm said it was seeking investors who were “misled by false representations and manipulative trading and whether such misconduct was responsible for financial losses they suffered.”

This criminal class action lawsuit followed a civil claim already announced by the Burwick Law firm, also based in the U.S. Milei has also been reported in Spain for his alleged role in the crypto scam.

You may also be interested in: $LIBRA: the timeline of a crypto scandal that’s rocking the Milei government