New Revelations Reignite Crypto Scandal Involving Argentina's President Milei (nytimes.com)
- Reference: 0181394070
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/04/06/230222/new-revelations-reignite-crypto-scandal-involving-argentinas-president-milei
- Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/world/americas/argentina-milei-crypto-libra.html
> President Javier Milei of Argentina [1]promoted a cryptocurrency last year that quickly skyrocketed in value then cratered just as fast, costing investors millions of dollars and setting off a scandal and an investigation. Mr. Milei said he was simply highlighting a private venture and had no connection to the digital coin called $Libra. New evidence is [2]now raising questions about his assertion . Phone logs from a federal investigation by Argentine prosecutors into the coin's collapse show seven phone calls between Mr. Milei and one of the entrepreneurs behind the cryptocurrency on the night in 2025 when Mr. Milei posted about $Libra on X. The contents of the calls, which took place before and after Mr. Milei's post, are not known.
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> But the phone logs -- which were obtained by The New York Times and [3]first reported by a local cable news channel, C5N -- suggest a greater degree of communication between Mr. Milei and the entrepreneurs who launched the token than what the president has publicly acknowledged. Newly uncovered messages also suggest Mr. Milei received regular payments from one of the entrepreneurs while he was a congressman. Mr. Milei has not publicly commented on the call logs and other documents, and he did not respond to a request for comment. He is named as a person of interest in the federal prosecutor's continuing investigation into the digital coin, according to court documents reviewed by The Times, but has not been formally charged with any crime. The latest revelations have revived a scandal that threatens the very foundation of a president who rose to power and was elected president in 2023 by attacking a political class he called corrupt.
[1] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/02/16/1921209/argentinian-president-promotes-memecoin-it-then-crashed-95-as-insiders-cashed-out
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/world/americas/argentina-milei-crypto-libra.html
[3] https://www.c5n.com/politica/libra-uno-los-querellantes-pidio-la-indagatoria-javier-milei-y-su-circulo-intimo-n234376
Re: (Score:2)
No we aren't. There wasn't any.
Re: (Score:2)
Go ahead and post some links to investigations. I'll check back.
Re: (Score:2)
Well that settles it. I’m certainly not voting for Hunter Biden!
It was too obvious (Score:2)
The original X post was so obvious that even a 5-year old could know that it was a scam. It still amazes me that a lot of people fell for it. Anyway, I think that the fast pump and dump was not the original plan, but the idiot freaked out and pulled out too early.
Crypto Is For Crime! (Score:4, Interesting)
Now with [1]"wrench attacks" [archive.ph] as XKCD informed us all of years ago.
Complete with wrench attack gangs whose real leaders are offshore directing their minions over phones using voice disguisers!
Just an added twist with all the crooked exchanges, holding companies and [2]ATM machines. [cnn.com]
Without strict world-wide regulation the only good move is not to play. Unless you run the the exchange and created the crypto.
Read how Crypto is the crime enabler: [3]Number Go Up! [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://archive.ph/ZRRMl
[2] https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/us/crypto-atm-scams-circle-k-invs-vis
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_Go_Up
This is why Trump loves him. (Score:5, Insightful)
Birds of a feather...
Re:This is why Trump loves him. (Score:4, Informative)
Didn't the Trump admin just give him something like 20 Billion Dollars?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
It was a currency swap for $20bn USD for their currency as a lifeline for the government. No intent to swap it back, basically a lifeline to buy imports in USD. Nothing was given to a person. Trump didnt do anything, it was Bessent's idea.
Re:This is why Trump loves him. (Score:5, Insightful)
And who does Bessent work for? Do you really believe el Bunko didn't sign off on it. I doubt it was his idea since he never has any original ideas of his own. Stop white washing el Bunko, everything he touches has the taint of corruption.
Re: (Score:3)
You enjoying those gasoline prices?
Re:This is why Trump loves him. (Score:4, Insightful)
Corrupt together
So Trump loves him (Score:3, Interesting)
Because he was the poster child for austerity politics and right wing economics in Argentina.
Argentina went a little crazy on the rent control without building public housing. Those two things aren't compatible. If you are going to do rent control you have to back it up with subsidies or direct public housing or you're going to have supplies shortages. Which they did.
On top of that droughts have absolutely wrecked Argentina's economy because it's mostly agrarian. It's a modern agrarian economy mind
Re: (Score:1)
I don't remember Trump saying "I endorse every single thing he has ever done in his entire life, all his policies, and all his decisions." And politicians say they like everyone they're not enemies with. You "everything bad in my entire life is Trump" people are so annoying. He's an idiot. Oh well, better than most Democrats.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, it's not like Trump and his family haven't done the exact same thing with crypto, nope, totally different.
But I'm intrigued, you say most democrats are stupider than Trump. You can't say such an extraordinary claim without proof. I need names with examples, lots of examples. Lots. Because I have so many examples of the stupidest thing nobody could even have invented, to compare them with.
Meanwhile, has the war been won yet, he said it was won as soon as he started it, but it's still there. I don't know