Argentine President Javier Milei is dealing with impeachment calls – and authorized motion accusing him of fraud – over his promotion of cryptocurrency on social media.
Milei posted on X, previously Twitter, concerning the $LIBRA coin on Friday, which he mentioned would assist fund small companies and start-ups.
He shared a hyperlink to purchase it, inflicting its value to shoot up. However inside just a few hours, he deleted his publish and the cryptocurrency nosedived in worth, dropping traders most of their cash.
Some opposition members of Congress say they plan to start out proceedings to question Milei. In the meantime, attorneys filed complaints of fraud in Argentina’s legal court docket on Sunday.
Some individuals on-line have accused Milei of what’s referred to as a “rug pull” – the place promoters of a cryptocurrency attract patrons, solely to cease buying and selling exercise and make off with the cash raised from gross sales. They identified that the hyperlink used to purchase the cash referenced a phrase the president makes use of in his speeches.
However Argentina’s presidential workplace mentioned on Saturday that the choice to take away the publish was to keep away from “hypothesis” following public response to the launch of the cryptocurrency.
It mentioned Milei was not concerned within the cryptocurrency’s improvement, and that the federal government’s Anti-Corruption Workplace would examine and decide whether or not anybody had acted improperly, together with the president himself.
Jonatan Baldiviezo, one of many plaintiffs who filed the authorized motion, instructed Related Press “the crime of fraud was dedicated, by which the president’s actions had been important”.
Milei’s political opponents have jumped on the chance.
Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who’s now in opposition, was closely important, calling him a “crypto scammer” in a publish seen 6.4 million occasions.
For its half, the nation’s principal opposition coalition mentioned it could file a request to question the president, calling it an “unprecedented scandal“.
Esteban Paulón, a member of the opposition Socialist Get together, mentioned in a publish on X that he would additionally request the beginning of impeachment proceedings.
