Listen to the article
A federal judge in Argentina has dismissed the criminal investigation into President Javier Milei and his sister Karina Milei over their alleged links to the collapse of the $Libra cryptocurrency, closing a case that had fuelled impeachment calls and intense public controversy since February 2025.
Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi dropped the charges at the request of prosecutors, according to court records. In his ruling, the judge said “the reported events do not fall under a legal category” and concluded that no “criminally relevant deception” had been proven against either defendant.
The case centred on a social media post in which Milei promoted the newly launched $Libra coin, describing it as a vehicle to fund small businesses and start-ups. The cryptocurrency surged in value after the Argentine president shared a link to purchase it on X, formerly Twitter. Within hours, however, he deleted the post, and the coin’s price collapsed, wiping out most of investors’ holdings.
Critics accused Milei of orchestrating a so-called “rug pull” — a scheme in which promoters attract buyers to a cryptocurrency before abruptly halting trading activity and pocketing the proceeds. Opposition members of Congress moved to initiate impeachment proceedings in the aftermath of the crash.
Milei consistently denied wrongdoing. He told local broadcaster Todo Noticias: “I didn’t promote it, I merely shared it.” He later explained that he had deleted the post because he did not know “the details of the project” at the time, and that once he learned more, he “decided not to continue promoting it.” In a separate television interview, he argued that those who invested in $Libra had done so “voluntarily” and were aware of the risks involved.
The presidential office had maintained throughout that Milei played no role in developing $Libra and announced that the Anti-Corruption Office would separately examine whether the president had acted improperly. Milei said he had acted “in good faith” when the coin’s value first rose before crashing.
As of the time of reporting, Milei had not publicly responded to the dismissal of the criminal case.