Why Did an Argentine Judge Drop the $Libra Case Against Milei?

An Argentine federal judge has closed the criminal investigation into President Javier Milei and his sister, Karina Milei, over the collapse of the $Libra cryptocurrency. Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi issued the decision on Friday, according to court records cited by Al Jazeera and the BBC.

The ruling ends an inquiry into whether the president's social media post about the token amounted to fraud. The BBC reported that the judge acted at the request of prosecutors.

What did the judge decide?

Martinez de Giorgi found that the events reported to the court do not constitute a criminal offense, Al Jazeera reported. According to the BBC, he concluded that no “criminally relevant deception” had been proven.

The judge also wrote that investor losses, together with the rise and fall in the token's price, were not enough on their own to establish fraud, Al Jazeera said. He added that Milei's position as president may have given the launch greater impact when he posted about it, but that this does not turn into a fraudulent scheme.

How did the controversy begin?

Milei wrote about $Libra on X in February 2025. The BBC reported that he said at the time it would help fund small businesses and start-ups, and that the token's price jumped after he shared a link to buy it. Within a few hours he deleted the post, and the token lost most of its value, leaving many investors with heavy losses.

The episode prompted opposition members of Congress to plan impeachment proceedings, according to the BBC. Some people online accused Milei of a “rug pull,” a scheme in which promoters draw in buyers and then disappear with the money raised.

What has Milei said about it?

Milei has consistently denied promoting the token. He told the local outlet Todo Noticias that he had not promoted it and had only shared it, the BBC reported. He has said he acted in good faith, that he did not know the details of the project when he posted and that he stopped promoting it after learning more.

In a television interview, he said that people who invested in $Libra did so voluntarily and understood the risks, according to the BBC. His office said at the time of the collapse that he had no involvement in developing the token and announced that the Anti-Corruption Office would examine whether he had acted improperly.

Who else was covered by the ruling?

The judge also dismissed an investigation into U.S. businessman Hayden Davis, who described himself as a “launch adviser” for the token, Al Jazeera reported. Davis has acknowledged that he held close to $100 million after the crash and denies any wrongdoing.

How has the government responded?

The presidential office responded on X, according to Al Jazeera. It said that for the first time in history a sitting Argentine president had been investigated with complete freedom, which it said produced absolute proof of his innocence. The post also asked who would take responsibility for wasting taxpayers' money and the president's time in what it called a failed attempt at an institutional coup.

The BBC said that Milei himself had not yet commented on the dismissal when it published its report.

What this means

For Milei, the decision removes a criminal case that had hung over his presidency since the token's collapse. The ruling does not change the financial losses of the people who bought $Libra. The sources do not report any compensation for them or any further legal action over the token's collapse.

The dismissal also leaves the political argument over the episode largely to the two sides. Opposition lawmakers had planned impeachment proceedings after the crash, while the government describes the investigation as a politically motivated attempt to damage the president. The judge's written conclusion, for its part, rests on the finding that the facts as reported did not meet the legal definition of a crime.

Around Prague, based on reporting by BBC News, Al Jazeera