Argentine President Javier Milei was reported on Tuesday to a Spanish prosecutor’s office for his involvement the $LIBRA cryptocurrency scandal. The Argentine president is already facing legal challenges in the United States and his native Argentina after promoting a token that subsequently plummeted, leaving thousands of investors with losses for millions of dollars.
Developers of $LIBRA withdrew around US$100 million from the project during this period, driving accusations that the operation constituted a “pump and dump,” along with allegations of insider trading.
“Today we are filing a complaint against the possible frauds of Milei’s cryptobrothers in Spain,” Gerardo Pisarello, the Spanish deputy who presented the criminal complaint, said in a speech to Congress.
Pisarello urged the prosecutors to “investigate the consequences in Spain of fraudulent operations” he alleges the Argentine president helped perpetrate.
During his speech, Pisarello said that Hayden Mark Davis, Milei’s advisor and one of the parties principally responsible for the launch of the token, lives in Spain for part of the year. He separately requested that the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office, in coordination with the European Prosecutor’s Office, locate the residence of both Davis and his father.
The lawmaker stressed that “these characters are not only dedicated to swindling and taking the savings of thousands of ordinary people, they are also a dangerous threat to financial security and the integrity of the market they claim to defend.”
“If Al Capone fell for evading taxes, it cannot be excluded that these unscrupulous characters, with Milei at their head, will fall for their immorality and boundless greed,” he added.
Last Friday, Argentine prosecutor Eduardo Taiano opened an investigation into Milei and several cryptocurrency traders over their role in the scandal after dozens of complaints filed by NGOs, opposition lawmakers, and others. At least two law firms in the U.S. filed complaints against Milei to the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.