Argentina’s Anti-Corruption Bureau determined that President Javier Miley did not violate ethics laws when he promoted Solana-based Libra Memecoin in February.
In a resolution issued Friday, the office declared that Milei’s February 14th X Post constituted a personal statement rather than an official announcement as a civil servant. Therefore, Milei’s posts did not result in any breach of ethics. This is a document signed by Alejandro Melik, head of the Anti-Corruption Office.
The Bureau of Anti-Corruption is a decentralized agency that reports to the Argentine Ministry of Justice. Its chief, Merrick, was appointed by the Mairay administration in December 2023.
The office has launched an investigation into whether Mairay engaged in fraud after the price of Libra tokens rose and acquired a crater within hours of promoting the project. Milei himself requested an investigation and completed his mission to investigate his relationship with Libra Token, he created a special task force that was disbanded last month.
The case is still being investigated by the Federal Court of Argentine. The Argentine federal court frozen the assets of Murray and his sister in an investigation.
Libra scandal
The scandal broke out when Mairay published an X-post, which was primarily interpreted as support from the Argentinean president. The post, which was deleted within six hours and included a link to the Viva La Libertad project’s website and a Token contract number, helped investors find it in Solana.
“This private project will be dedicated to stimulating the growth of the Argentine economy by funding small and medium-sized businesses and Argentine entrepreneurs.”
Shortly after Milei’s post, Libra prices rose sharply to $5, but were soon tanked. Several investors lost millions of dollars as the token value fell by about 95%. The scandal shook the Argentinean market and led to a stock market crash a few days later.
Shortly after the token’s value was lost, Milei deleted the post, causing a fuss on social media, including claims for insider trading. In a new post on February 15th, he revealed that he had no connection to the project, but after learning more about the project, he decided to delete the previous post.
On February 18, Mairay said he “acted in good faith” when “sharing” the project and therefore “doing no mistakes.” His intention was not to promote Memocoin, but to raise awareness about efforts to use cryptography to support Argentinean businesses.
However, on the same day, the local media outlet reported that Libra co-creator Hayden Davis boasted about his “control” over Milei, thanks to a donation to Milei’s sister Karina Milei.
The public’s trust in Mairay’s administration was cratered after the scandal.
Results of the Bureau of Anti-Corruption Survey
The Anti-Corruption Office has categorized Mairay’s posts as personal, infidelity activities by the Argentinean president. This was reiterated that it “does not imply government activity” as it was made public from Milei’s personal X account, which does not receive official administrative contributions or public resources.
The resolution added that on Mylay’s X account, he presents himself as an “economist” rather than a civil servant, before his term as a lawmaker. The Bureau therefore declared that this post was an expression of his personal opinion and a civil and political right guaranteed by the Constitution.
The conclusion was further strengthened by the fact that the message was not spread through official government accounts. Documentation added:
“…The post under analysis did not mention public policy, programmes, government decisions, or announcements with legal or budgetary impact.”
It is mentioned in this article
