Argentina’s judiciary is examining whether President Javier Milei’s public support for the Libra cryptocurrency influenced its price and whether he or members of his team financially benefited from the project, according to materials gathered in an ongoing investigation.
The probe includes leaked phone messages, draft contracts and meeting records from the days surrounding the Feb. 14, 2025 launch of the cryptocurrency.
Investigators are examining communications involving Milei, his sister and chief of staff Karina Milei, close adviser Santiago Caputo, former adviser Demian Reidel and businessman Mauricio Novelli, who is believed to have acted as an intermediary between the president and Libra creator Hayden Davis.
Authorities are also reviewing a public statement Milei posted the following day on the social media platform X in which he distanced himself from the project, saying he had stopped promoting it after learning additional details. Investigators are assessing whether official influence overlapped with private financial arrangements.
New material obtained through a forensic review of Novelli’s phone and call records points to intense communications around the time of the currency’s launch, raising suspicions among investigators. One document describes an alleged $5 million arrangement tied to the launch and public endorsements of the cryptocurrency.
The document, reportedly created on Novelli’s iPhone on Feb. 11, 2025 — three days before Milei promoted the project on social media — outlined three payments: an initial $1.5 million in tokens or cash, another $1.5 million tied to appointing Davis as a blockchain adviser and an additional $2 million linked to a potential advisory contract involving blockchain and artificial intelligence for the Argentine government or for Milei personally.
Investigators analyzing devices and records have mapped transactions, meetings and transfers connecting Novelli to the Libra launch and to Milei’s closest advisers, placing the president at the center of what is being examined as a potential cryptocurrency fraud scheme.
Novelli, described as the figure who connected the government to the operation, became a formal suspect in the case on Feb. 24. Authorities conducted searches at his home in La Lucila, at the offices of his company Tech Forum and at the homes of associates Manuel Trones Godoy and Sergio Morales, seizing mobile phones and computers.
Data extracted from those devices, released over the weekend, also documents early contact between Milei and Novelli and shows how those communications overlapped with the cryptocurrency launch.
On the night of the launch, Novelli was at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dallas with Davis while nearly 30 phone calls linked him with Milei, the president’s sister Karina and adviser Caputo — a group sometimes referred to as the presidency’s “iron triangle.”
Call logs show more than 35 contacts between Novelli and Milei before the president published a post praising Libra. After the cryptocurrency collapsed, investigators recorded three calls between Novelli and former presidential adviser Reidel.
Within the governing coalition, questions have also been directed at prosecutor Eduardo Taiano over reports that he had access to the call records since January.
The iPhone document uncovered in the investigation was also found alongside what appears to be a draft crisis response dated Feb. 16, 2025. The document suggests issuing a public statement expressing support for the “vision of the Libra currency” while denying any direct financial interest in the project, indicating that a communications strategy may have been prepared for social media or interviews to manage the fallout.
The timeline has drawn scrutiny because the cryptocurrency gained momentum immediately after Milei promoted it on X in a post that was later deleted. Public blockchain records indicate the token was created only minutes before the president’s message.
After a rapid price surge driven by demand, Libra quickly collapsed, triggering suspicions of a “rug pull,” a type of cryptocurrency fraud in which developers abandon a project and withdraw investors’ funds.
Blockchain data cited by local media and the analytics platform Lookonchain indicated that one wallet held about 80% of the token supply and wallets connected to the project moved about $107 million.
Judicial authorities are examining whether Milei’s post directly influenced the token’s value and whether the president or members of his team profited financially.
The government has denied involvement in the project but confirmed that Milei and members of his team met with its developers beforehand.
The controversy has expanded politically, with questions raised about whether former adviser Reidel had prior knowledge of the launch and broader disputes over influence within the Justice Ministry. Lawmakers have continued pressing for answers and examining who may bear responsibility.