Argentine Judge Dismisses LIBRA Criminal Case Against President Milei

An Argentine federal judge has dismissed the criminal case against President Javier Milei over his promotion of LIBRA, a memecoin that crashed soon after its launch in February 2025. Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi issued a 60 page ruling that clears Milei, his sister Karina Milei, and nine other people, 11 in all.

Karina Milei serves as secretary general of the presidency. The others cleared include Hayden Davis, Mauricio Novelli, and KIP Protocol chief executive Julian Peh. None of the 11 had been formally questioned in the case, according to reporting on the ruling.

What the judge found

The judge found that the events under investigation "do not fit any legal offense" and did not establish criminally relevant deception. He sided with prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, who had requested the dismissal.

The ruling acknowledged that Milei's endorsement could have given the launch greater impact. It said his social media post and the collapse that followed were not enough on their own to establish fraud without evidence of a specific deception. The judge also found no evidence that Karina Milei sought or received money for access to the president, and no evidence that LIBRA proceeds reached public officials, according to Chequeado, as reported by CoinDesk.

How LIBRA rose and fell

Milei promoted LIBRA on X on February 14, 2025. He said the Solana based token would help fund small businesses in Argentina. The token rose sharply after the post and then lost more than 90 percent of its value. CoinDesk reported that the crash destroyed more than 250 million dollars in investor wealth. Blockchain researchers found that eight wallets linked to the token's creator had withdrawn around 99 million dollars in crypto, CoinDesk reported. The Block reported a peak market value of about 4.5 billion dollars and a separate cash out figure, so readers should treat each figure as tied to the outlet that reported it.

Reaction and what remains open

The president's office said in an official statement that the judge granted a prosecutor's request to dismiss the case because the acts under review did not constitute a crime. The statement described the probe, opened ahead of Argentina's 2025 midterm elections, as an attempt to harm Milei's reputation in an election year. Milei welcomed the decision, while the opposition criticized the ruling, DPA reported.

La Campora, a left wing Peronist youth organization, posted on X: "There is no justice in our country. The judiciary is controlled by a mafia serving those in power."

The dismissal may not be fully final. Investors who joined the case as plaintiffs were removed by the judge in July, and an appeals court upheld that removal in September. Those investors have challenged their removal before the Federal Criminal Cassation Court. If they are reinstated, they could appeal the dismissal. Prosecutor Taiano is not expected to appeal, CoinDesk reported.

For now, the criminal case that followed one of the most visible memecoin collapses tied to a sitting president is closed at this level, with the court finding no criminal offense in the promotion itself.