Argentine president Javier Milei, a libertarian and vocal supporter of bitcoin (BTC), is facing an increasing pile of political and now legal problems after his unsuccessful crypto adventure this past weekend.
A report by AP indicates that Milei is now facing fraud charges, which were brought against him in a criminal court on Sunday. This follows statements from the opposition, which has threatened the country’s leader with impeachment.
The floodgates of problems for Milei opened on Friday when he posted on his X account about a new crypto coin, LIBRA. According to the politician, it was designed to encourage economic growth by "funding small businesses and startups."
Instead, it encouraged a massive so-called “pump and dump” scheme involving LIBRA, a token on the Solana blockchain, known for its meme coins and scams. The project's website states that it was developed "in honor of Javier Milei’s libertarian ideas" and claims it is a private initiative created by KIP Network.
Following Milei’s post, the LIBRA meme coin jumped over 2,000% in less than an hour, reaching a $4.4 billion market capitalization before crashing 95%. Insiders of the project allegedly made almost $90 million in profit.
Soon after, Milei deleted his original post. In a separate statement, he claimed to have no connection to the LIBRA project and said he decided to delete the first post after learning more details about it. Additionally, the president has ordered an investigation into the matter.
The presidential team explained that Milei met with the KIP team in Argentina in October last year and was introduced to the idea of creating a crypto project called Viva la Libertad, which aimed to help finance companies in Argentina.
In either case, this is not the first time a meme coin tied to a high-profile politician has hurt thousands of investors. As reported, US President Donald Trump also launched his meme coin, TRUMP, just days before his inauguration. The token skyrocketed, hitting billions in market capitalization before crashing. At the time of writing, TRUMP is down 76% from its all-time highs.
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