The Argentine judge is tasked with leading an investigation into the relationship between President Javier Mairei and cryptocurrency $LIBRA amid allegations of fraud.
On Monday, federal judge Maria Serbini was randomly selected to helm the probe. This will check if Mairay acted illegally.
Some opposition politicians have warned that Mairay could even face a perpetrator trial depending on the outcome.
The scandal broke out on Friday when $Libra Cryptocurrency was launched. Milei said it was designed to promote Crypto Coin using social media accounts on X, promoting “economic growth by funding small businesses and startups.”
Supported by this high-profile support, cryptocurrency temporarily hit a market capitalization of $4 billion. But its value soon began to fall, and some urged them to call it a hoax or fraud.
Milei deleted his post as $libra’s value became nose diving.
Critics questioned whether this was an example of “ragpur” scam. The first investors increased their value, suddenly withdrawing their investment, leading to a quick collapse of the currency.
While victims of such schemes generally have unworthy coins left, scam architects draw profits from the high value of cryptocurrency.
By Saturday, Milei’s office issued a statement distancing the president from $LIBRA, highlighting its lack of involvement in the development of the currency.
The statement also explained that Milei has created a habit of promoting business ventures, including cryptocurrency developer KIP protocol, as part of his free market platform.
“The President shared a post from his personal account announcing the launch of a KIP Protocol project. He daily has many entrepreneurs who want to launch projects in Argentina to create jobs and attract investments. I’m going with it,” the president’s office said.
One anonymous government official told Reuters that if someone is a victim of the rapid rise and fall of cryptocurrency, it is Maile himself.
“The only thing on the surface of this globe that has been tricked is Mairi,” an official told Reuters. “Javier has always promoted private projects and will continue to do so.”
Still, critics pointed out that cryptocurrency is being sold on a website named Vivalalibertadproject.com, which uses Miley’s slogan, “Long Live Liberty!”.
They accused Mairay of being part of a cryptocurrency scheme.
Jonatan Baldiviezo, the lawyer and one of the plaintiffs in Monday’s case, told The Associated Press that Milei is personally responsible.
“In this illegal association, there was a fraudulent crime that was essential to the president’s actions,” Bardiviezo said.
Observatorio del Derecho A La Ciudad, a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) that filed the lawsuit, accused Milei of sacrificing their savings to thousands of people.
“We accuse Milei of being part of an illegal association that organized fraud with $Libra cryptocurrency that simultaneously affected more than 40,000 people with a loss of more than $4 billion,” the NGO said. I mentioned it on the website.
Even Hayden Davis, one of the developers of cryptocurrency, appeared to blame Murray for the sudden decline in value.
“Despite previous commitments, Milei and his team unexpectedly changed positions, retracted support and deleted all previous posts on social media,” Davis said in the video.
Experts say it’s unlikely that Mairay will face an ammo each hearing over the scandal, but could knock him on his financial credibility ahead of the 2025 midterm elections.
On his part, Miley denounced his political opponent for the uproar in a social media post later Friday.
“This raises our belief that we kick them. [a**],” he wrote.
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