A high-profile investigation into Argentine President Javier Milei’s alleged connection to the LIBRA cryptocurrency scandal has led to a request to freeze as much as $110 million in belongings.
Prosecutor Eduardo Taiano has additionally demanded the retrieval of deleted social media posts, significantly these the place Milei appeared to endorse the Solana-based memecoin.
Taiano is aiming to hint monetary actions linked to LIBRA by acquiring data of all transactions since its launch, specializing in a spike in commerce quantity round February 14-15. Efforts are underway to freeze sure wallets concerned, and worldwide requests are being made to entry information from international crypto exchanges.
Regardless of Milei retracting his preliminary help, information signifies that insiders related to the LIBRA group cashed out roughly $107 million earlier than the token’s dramatic crash. Moreover, $4.5 million not too long ago moved from one pockets, with some funds believed for use to buy one other memecoin, POPE, presumably as a part of an try to launder the belongings.
The prosecutor can also be searching for telephone data, customer logs from Milei’s places of work, and interviews with blockchain specialists who may make clear the case.
This comes after Milei confronted backlash and impeachment requires selling a coin allegedly supposed to help small companies in Argentina, which peaked at a market cap of $4.5 billion earlier than plummeting by over 90%, fueling accusations of a fraudulent scheme.
The scandal, dubbed “Libragate,” has critically broken Milei’s public picture and hindered his political momentum as he faces key elections later this yr.
