Argentina president disbands unit probing LIBRA memecoin scandal days after judge orders bank records unsealed

Only days after a judge asked to see the president’s bank accounts, Argentina’s government has shuttered an investigative task force designed to probe the Solana-based LIBRA crypto token scandal involving the country’s President Javier Milei and his sister, according to a statement issued by the country’s Justice Minister.

This comes days after a judge asked Argentina’s Central Bank to unseal both the president’s and his sister’s bank accounts.

Earlier this year, Milei publicly promoted the Solana-based LIBRA memecoin, which then triggered an investigation after the token suddenly rose in value before then collapsing. LIBRA was created in February by Delaware-based Kelsier Ventures. Days after its launch, the self-proclaimed facilitator of the controversial LIBRA token, Hayden Davis, alleged he paid Karina Milei to influence her brother ahead of the memecoin’s launch.

Hours after its launch, Milei took to the social media platform X to claim LIBRA would hold funds for small businesses and startups to bolster Argentina’s economy. Milei’s post included a link to the token’s website and its contract address on Solana. LIBRA’s value jumped to a market cap of over $2 billion before quickly reversing course and crashing by more than 90%.

Milei then retracted his support for the project after the token value collapsed, saying he did not have advanced knowledge of it and never intended to persuade people to buy it. 

“I’m not an expert. My specialty is economic growth, with and without money,” Milei said at the time. “As a guy who’s a super technology enthusiast seeing the possibility of a tool to finance entrepreneurs’ projects, I spread the word.”

Milei also said that most of the investors who lost money on LIBRA were American and Chinese, adding that very few Argentines had been affected.

With Tuesday’s statement announcing the end of the investigative unit tasked with probing the scandal, which both the president and justice minister signed, the government said the unit had performed its function.

It appears the judge interested in seeing Milei’s bank records might disagree, considering that only a few days ago, he issued orders to have Milei and his sister’s bank accounts unsealed. According to local news, the judge has also previously ordered that the finances of three LIBRA co-founders be frozen.

Prosecutors were reviewing video evidence of the mother and sister of one of the co-founders allegedly emptying bank safe-deposit boxes on the day after Milei’s promotion of the token, the report also said.

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