Argentine President Javier Milei fist pumps as he reacts to applause during a February 2024 address to the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, entitled “Where Globalism Goes to Die.” File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI |
License PhotoFeb. 18 (UPI) — Argentinian President Javier Milei dismissed opposition efforts to begin impeachment proceedings amid fraud accusations after a new cryptocurrency he shared on social media surged in price and then crashed, losing investors millions of dollars.
The far-right populist leader who swept to power in 2023 insisted he had not endorsed $Libra when he shared a link to a website selling the crypto coin and had been acting in good faith, telling Argentine TV that people who partook of other forms of gambling understood and accepted the risks.
“If you go to a casino and lose money, what’s there to complain about when you knew the risks? I didn’t promote it, I merely shared it,” he said.
Milei had told his 3.8 million followers Friday night that the $Libra venture was “dedicated to boosting the growth of the Argentine economy by funding small businesses and entrepreneurs.”
The domain name of the site his post linked to contained the “long live freedom” slogan Milei is renowned for peppering his speeches with and using at every opportunity.
Dismissing complaints from people who lost money after the so-called meme coin lost 65%, around $146 million, of its market capitalization on Saturday after the post was deleted, Milei said he took the step after finding out more about the scheme and deciding it was not something he should be associated with.
The currency has since rebounded, recovering more than half of its losses.
However, industry experts said the incident had all the hallmarks of a so-called “pump and dump” scheme where money is poured into a currency, pushing the price sky-high before those in on the scheme dump their holding, leaving everybody else with big losses.
Opposition politicians in the Argentine National Congress said they would push for Milei to be impeached.
The Union of the Homeland, a group of Peronist parties in the Chamber of Deputies lower hosue, said in a post on X that Milei’s alleged involvement in a crypto fraud was “extremely serious” and an “unprecedented scandal.”
“Our block of National Deputies decided to move forward with the presentation of a request for impeachment against the President of the Nation.”
The federal prosecutor’s office was also preparing to investigate Milei for possible fraud, criminal association or potential violations of his obligations as president.
Milei’s office said the anti-corruption watchdog would rule on whether he had engaged in any wrongdoing, stressing that Milei had no links to, or interests in, $Libra of any kind.
