According to the plainiffs, Milein engaged in a “rug pull”, a practice whereby the creators of a cryptocurrency token attract genuine investments, increasing its value, and then withdrawing their investment.
President Javier Milei has been charged with fraud by Argentine attorneys for using his social media to advertise a cryptocurrency, one of the attorneys told The Associated Press.
Attorney and plaintiff Jonatan Baldiviezo told the AP on Sunday that they witnessed an illegal association committing “an indeterminate number of frauds” during the episode. “Within this illicit association, the crime of fraud was committed, in which the president’s actions were essential”, he stated.
Along with another lawyer, Marcos Zelaya, engineer Maria Eva Koutsovitis, and economist Claudio Lozano, who oversaw the Argentine Central Bank under former president Alberto Fernandez, Baldiviezo signed the appeal. On Monday, criminal justice is anticipated to either assign a judge to the case or forward it to a prosecutor for more inquiry.
Milei’s actions were viewed by the plaintiffs as an act known as “rug pull” in the cryptocurrency community. This happens when a developer introduces an alluring token to entice investors, only to drop it when the funds become too expensive, rendering the tokens useless.
Additionally, Milei broke the Public Ethics Law, according to Baldiviezo.
The coin $LIBRA, according to Milei’s post on X on Friday, is intended to “encouraging economic growth by funding small businesses and startups”.
According to financial website Dexscreener, he removed the article a few hours later, and the currency’s value plummeted, costing its short investors millions of dollars in lossesw.
“Unaware of the specifics of the project”
Following the public response to the project’s introduction, the President’s Office claimed in a statement on Saturday that Milei was not involved in any stage of the cryptocurrency’s creation and that it had chosen to delete the post in order to prevent speculation and reduce additional exposure.
“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”, said the White House.
Milei said on X that he was not aware of the currency’s evolution after removing the post, and he accused his political rivals of attempting to take advantage of the incident. “I was not aware of the details of the project, and after getting informed, I decided not to continue promoting it (which is why I deleted the tweet)”, he stated.
The nation’s Anti-Corruption Office, which is part of the Executive Branch, will take urgent action, according to the President’s Office. Milei and his administration recently met with KIP Protocol representatives in the presidential office, the administration also acknowledged.
Hayden in a video shared on his social media on Saturday, Mark Davis, one of the KIP Protocol representatives who met with Milei, accused the president of being responsible for the collapse of the cryptocurrency.
“Despite prior commitments, Milei and his team unexpectedly changed their position, with drawing their support and deleting all previous posts on social media”, Davis stated.
Following his promotion of the cryptocurrency, opposition politicians have put pressure on Milei, threatening to impeach him.
