Judge Drops Fraud Case Against Milei Over $Libra Collapse

An Argentine federal judge has closed the criminal case examining whether President Javier Milei and his sister Karina Milei committed fraud tied to the rise and fall of the $Libra cryptocurrency.

Federal judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi issued the dismissal after prosecutors asked that the case be shut down. In his ruling, the judge wrote that "the reported events do not fall under a legal category" and found no "criminally relevant deception." The case dates to February 2025, when Milei posted on X about $Libra, saying the coin would help fund small businesses and start-ups, and shared a link to buy it. The price climbed sharply after the post. Within a few hours, Milei deleted it, and the coin's value dropped. Most investors lost the bulk of what they had put in.

Opposition lawmakers in Congress had planned impeachment proceedings over the episode. Some critics online called it a "rug pull," a term for promoters who attract buyers to a cryptocurrency and then halt trading while keeping the money raised from sales. Milei has denied the accusations. In an interview with Todo Noticias, he said, "I didn't promote it, I merely shared it." He also said he acted "in good faith" while the coin's value was rising. He defended deleting the post by saying he did not know "the details of the project and after learning about it, I decided not to continue promoting it," and said in a television interview that people who invested in $Libra did so "voluntarily" and understood the risks.

The presidential office said Milei had no role in developing $Libra and announced at the time that the Anti-Corruption Office would review whether the president had acted improperly. Milei had not responded to the dismissal news as of the original report.

Karina Milei, the president's sister, was also named in the investigation. Court records show the case has been dismissed.