Good day everyone,

I hope you are all having a good day, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things crypto. In this post I will be looking at the news of Argentinian President Milei facing fraud charges over the promotion of a fake crypto coin known as LIBRA.

Milei Facing Fraud Charges

The President of Argentina, Javier Milei, is under scrunity and facing charges after he promoted a cryptocurrency which quickly plummeted in value. The president did the promotion on social media platform 'X' and lawyers have since filed the charges in criminal court on Sunday the 16th of February 2025. The promotion was in relation to a token known as $LIBRA and the charges allege fraudulent activity related to Milei’s promotion.

https://x.com/OPRArgentina/status/1890937875677495542

The post has since been deleted but it touted the cryptocurrency as a means to “encouraging economic growth by funding small businesses and startups”. A mere hours following his endorsement the value of $LIBRA crashed and left investors with huge losses. This is according to Dex screener, and the token was developed by the Web3 company KIP Protocol and Hayden Davis. It was accessible via a link directing users to a website called vivalalibertadproject.com. The website’s name echoes a phrase frequently used by Milei in his speeches and online communications.

On Saturday the presidents office released a statement to note Milei was not involved in any stage of the tokens development and that he decided to remove the post to avoid speculation and limit further exposure. This came after the lash back from the public regarding the token's launch.

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1890611963203334190

The Solana-based token that saw its value plunge 95% over the weekend from $4.5 billion to around $200 million and Jonatan Baldiviezo, a lawyer and one of the plaintiffs, told the AP that they saw an illicit association to commit “an indeterminate number of frauds” in the episode. He stated:

“Within this illicit association, the crime of fraud was committed, in which the president’s actions were essential.”

Milei faces a criminal lawsuit and calls for impeachment after the crash wiped out billions in retail investor holdings while the people behind the project are facing similar scrutiny. Baldiviezo signed the petition with Marcos Zelaya, another lawyer; the engineer María Eva Koutsovitis; and the economist Claudio Lozano, who presided over the Argentine Central Bank during former president Alberto Fernández’s administration. It has also been noted that a handful of investors walked away with millions and opposition leaders have called for the impeachment of Milei. A judge is expected to be assigned to the case or it may be referred to a prosecutor for further investigation.

The plaintiffs consider the actions of Milei to be what is known as a 'rug pull.' This happens when a developer launches an attractive token to lure investors but later abandons it after funds become overpriced. This leads to the tokens becoming worthless. It was added by Baldiviezo that Milei violated the Public Ethics Law. The office of the president stated:

“The president shared a post on his personal accounts announcing the launch of KIP Protocol’s project, as he does daily with many entrepreneurs who wish to launch projects in Argentina to create jobs and attract investments.”

The president’s office said the country’s anti-corruption office, which operates under the executive branch, would act immediately. They noted that Milei and members of his administration recently met with representatives of KIP Protocol at the presidential office. 

“All the information gathered in the investigation will be handed over to the judiciary to determine if any of the companies or individuals linked to the KIP Protocol project committed a crime.”

One of KIP Protocol’s representatives who met with Milei, a man by the name Hayden Mark Davis, has placed the blame for the tokens collapse solely on the president. This was done in a video posted on his social media account on Saturday. Davis is the CEO of Kelsier Ventures and they helped to develop the $LIBRA token. He noted he has faced death threats for his role in the project. In an interview he told Coffeezilla:

“I have people who are like, ‘Hey, send me a million and a half dollars, or I go kill your family.’”

Davis went on to state he did not profit from the project and still holds $100 million in the project. He said he wouldn’t take any of those funds for his own personal profit. He noted the decision of Milei to delete his promotional post led to the collapse of the project. He also blamed snipers, which are automated traders who use bots to buy large amounts of a token the instant it launches, driving up the price before quickly selling for a profit. 

KIP also denied any direct involvement in the project and stated that $LIBRA was not a “KIP Protocol project.” They stated they did not “did not initiate the project, did not manage or direct the token launch process, and did not receive any tokens pre or post-launch.”

With Davis still holding such a vast sum within the project, he noted four possible outcomes for it in his interview with Coffeezilla:

• He could donate the money to Argentine nonprofit organisations.
• There could be a partial refunds based on investor losses.
• To reinject the funds into the token’s liquidity pool, a controversial move that could allow snipers and early traders to continue profiting while retail investors remained at a disadvantage.
• Hold onto the funds until further guidance from Milei’s team.

Davis went on to state he has received “zero” communication from the president or his office, saying:

“I’m making decisions on behalf of the government of Argentina, who’s distanced themselves from this.”

The interview with Coffeezilla is shown below.

The madness does not end there, as a collaborative investigation done by blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps and investigator and YouTuber Stephen Findeisen (Coffeezilla) shows that there is on-chain evidence suggesting the same entity behind LIBRA also orchestrated the failed launch of MELANIA, the meme coin promoted by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump. The investigation traced interconnected wallet activity between the projects, revealing how profits from one scheme funded the other through a series of cross-chain transfers.

https://x.com/bubblemaps/status/1891289507338580028

This has been a fascinating development and it will be very interesting to see the outcome for Argentinian President Milei. The big question is who should we believe?

Have a great day.

Peace. CryptoGod-1.

Referral Links and Follow Me:

Linktree