Argentina’s Milei LIBRA Memecoin Scandal: Are the Assets Frozen Now?
Explosive Update: Argentina's crypto scandal takes a chilling turn as authorities move to freeze assets tied to the Milei LIBRA memecoin controversy.
Behind the Freeze: Regulators clamp down amid allegations of market manipulation—because what's a crypto winter without some good old-fashioned financial theater?
LIBRA in Limbo: The token's fate hangs in the balance as investigators follow the money trail. Spoiler alert: it probably leads to a tropical island.
Finance's Dark Comedy: Another day, another 'stable' coin proving crypto's first law—if it looks too good to be true, someone's about to get rekt.
A selfie and a sudden money transfer had thrown Argentina’s president into the center of a crypto storm.
Within 42 minutes of President Javier Milei’s viral post with U.S. businessman Hayden Davis, half a million dollars moved through Bitget and investigators say that moment may have exposed one of the country’s biggest memecoin scams.
Here’s the latest update.
Judge Freezes Assets in LIBRA Fraud Case
According to sources, Federal Judge Marcelo Giorgi has ordered a “prohibición de innovación” – a freeze on assets tied to the LIBRA memecoin, which was publicly promoted by President Milei earlier this year. The order covers Davis and two crypto operators, Argentine Orlando Mellino and Colombian Favio Rodriguez, whose wallets showed suspicious activity.
Prosecutor Eduardo Taino requested the measure, backed by reports from Argentina’s financial investigation units. They warned that hundreds of investors may have been defrauded of $100-$120 million, urging the court to preserve any assets that could be linked to the alleged scam.
Judge Giorgi approved the request, saying the freeze was necessary to prevent the suspects from moving or hiding funds before the case ends.
The decision was also sent to Argentina’s National Securities Commission (CNV) to ensure the order extends to all crypto platforms operating in the country.
The $507,500 Transfer That Raised Eyebrows
Investigators are focusing on a specific moment that connected the president’s online post to real-world fund flows. On January 30, Milei shared a selfie with Davis, calling him an advisor on blockchain and AI.
Just 42 minutes later, Davis transferred $507,500 through Bitget, according to prosecutors.
That timing, combined with on-chain tracking from TRM Labs and Chainalysis, became a key piece of the investigation. Analysts traced multimillion-dollar withdrawals from LIBRA’s liquidity pools to several exchanges, including Bitget, Gate.io, and Circle.
TRM Labs estimated around $90 million was moved through consolidation addresses. Reuters wrote “the on-chain behavior suggests that these addresses are closely related to the LIBRA creator team.”
Political Fallout Deepens
LIBRA’s token launch on solana in February briefly soared after Milei’s social media post and then crashed within hours. The president deleted his post soon after and later said, “I wasn’t informed of the project’s details, and after learning about them I decided not to continue promoting it.”
But leaked text messages from Davis only made things worse.
In one, he bragged, “I send money to his sister and he signs what I say and does what I want. Crazy.” The exchange added fuel to accusations that LIBRA’s creators used Milei’s name and image to pump the token before pulling investor funds.
