Argentina's Milei denies role in 'cryptogate' after 'pay for access' reports

1. Argentina's Milei denies role in 'cryptogate' after 'pay for access' reports

Argentina's Milei denies role in 'cryptogate' after 'pay for access' reports AFP | Mar 03, 2025 01:16 PM IST Read this news in brief form Share Via Copy Link Argentina's Milei denies role in 'cryptogate' after 'pay for access' reports

Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday distanced himself from an alleged cryptocurrency scam following reports businessmen tried to "sell access" to the leader ahead of the scandal.

Argentina's Milei denies role in 'cryptogate' after 'pay for access' reports

Prosecutors are reportedly preparing to examine whether Milei engaged in fraud or criminal association or was in breach of his duties when he praised the $LIBRA cryptocurrency last month on social media.

The currency's value soared then crashed, and Milei deleted his blessing hours later, saying he had made a mistake.

Argentine economists, crypto specialists and opposition political figures criticized the self-declared "anarcho-capitalist" president, an economist by training, and said the digital asset could be a fraud or a Ponzi scheme.

Forbes magazine has called the scandal the "largest-ever crypto theft".

The New York Times reported Friday that a US crypto consultant and Argentine business partner of Milei attempted to "sell access to the president" at a conference in Argentina last year.

There is no evidence Milei was aware of the proposals, the Times said.

Speaking to the LN television channel, Milei dismissed the allegation as "barbershop gossip" spread by "spiteful people who maybe wanted to have the meeting and didn't have it".

He slammed the Times as "anti-Trump" and "very much aligned with the Democratic Party".

Milei has shown support for his US counterpart Donald Trump and his top advisor Elon Musk, gifting the SpaceX and Tesla boss a chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.

He said "very serious" accusations had emerged since the scandal broke out and and that he was "waiting for the legal system to finish its work" to "go after journalists who have lied, slandered and libeled".

The libertarian leader said he posted about the cryptocurrency because he was told it was "an instrument" to finance "people working as programmers in artificial intelligence and software development".

When suspicions arose about the scheme, he deleted the post, he said.

Milei said his economics knowledge did not extend to cryptocurrencies, which he described as "hyper sophisticated".

The president sought to distance himself from the crisis, saying it was "not a problem for me or my officials".

Trump's special envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone told broadcaster CNN Saturday there would be "legal investigations" into the scandal, which he hoped would provide a "good lesson" for Milei to be "better advised".

Former Argentine president and opposition figure Cristina Kirchner has called Milei a "crypto-scammer" and opposition parliamentarians announced they would institute impeachment proceedings against him.