Court Documents Contradict Milei's Claims of No Role in $Libra Launch

Forensic evidence placed before federal prosecutors has directly contradicted Argentine President Javier Milei's repeated insistence that he had no prior knowledge of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency before promoting it on social media. Phone records show that Milei exchanged at least five phone calls and several messages with crypto entrepreneur Mauricio Novelli, an Argentine lobbyist linked to the launch of the digital token, in the minutes before publishing the message. Milei had previously stated, "I didn't know the specifics," framing his February 14, 2025 social media post as a spontaneous gesture of support for Argentine innovation.

The token briefly reached a $4 billion market capitalization before plunging 94% within hours. The crash wiped out hundreds of millions in investor funds and prompted opposition lawmakers to call for Milei's impeachment.

The phone records form only part of the evidentiary picture now before federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano. Forensic analysis of Novelli's phone carried out by the General Prosecutors Office not only shows he spoke with Milei five times before the launch and twice minutes after his post, but also with presidential secretary and Milei's sister, Karina Milei, as well as with presidential advisor Santiago Caputo. Novelli was in Dallas during the token's launch.

The document, recovered from Novelli's iPhone during the judicial investigation, outlines a three-part payment structure totaling $5 million. Investigators were able to restore the deleted note, although there is still no public proof that any such agreement was formally validated by the government. The text was found among notes stored on Novelli's phone and appears to have been written between October and November 2024, before Hayden Davis, the businessman linked to the crypto venture, traveled to Argentina. The draft note was reportedly written in English on February 11, 2025, just three days before Milei posted about the token.

The forensic report also points to indications of money transfers or cash deliveries even after Milei became president. The forensic report added to the judicial case contains references to payments that Novelli allegedly made to Milei from 2021, when he was still a congressman, for classes and promotional work tied to N&W Profesional Traders.

A Congressional commission dedicated to investigating the $LIBRA case revived its work in March 2026 following the leak of the forensic files. One lawmaker at a March 16 press conference in Buenos Aires drew a direct line between the evidence and the presidency: "What appears in this evidence is clear: a network of direct coordination between operators from the crypto world, very marginal operators, and figures close to the President."

A congressional commission report concluded that Milei used his role as president to engage in what could potentially be a scam. Karina Milei's role is pegged to her responsibility in allowing the meetings to happen, as her office controls who visits the president.

Just before Hayden Davis was scheduled to appear in a New York court via a virtual hearing to evaluate a potential freezing of assets, more than $9 million worth of tokens were moved out of a wallet labeled "Milei" into various wallets on different platforms. A New York law firm is also pursuing a class action suit against the president, meaning the legal exposure now spans two continents. With Taiano holding forensic materials that prosecutors say date back months before the launch, the gap between Milei's stated ignorance and the documented record continues to widen.