Author: Christopher Tepedino, CoinTelegraph; Compiler: Tao Zhu, Golden Finance
According to Argentine newspaper Clarin, An Argentine law firm filed a criminal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on February 17, pointing out the mastermind behind the collapse of the LIBRA token. The lawsuit also calls for an investigation into the role played by Argentine President Javier Milei.
On another legal front, the Civic Alliance ARI filed a criminal complaint on February 17, asking the Department of Justice to investigate allegations of bribery and fraud allegedly promoted by President Milei, adding that "the government cannot be both judge and jury."
The LIBRA token rebounded after President Milei posted about the project on X on February 14. The now-deleted post, which stressed that the project would be used to fund “Argentinian small businesses and startups,” included a contract address, causing the token’s market cap to rise to $4.56 billion before plummeting to $257 million a few hours later.
These latest legal challenges build on earlier criminal charges filed in Argentina, alleging that Miles engaged in fraud by backing the token.
In turn, the government has been trying to distance Argentina’s president from the scandal, saying Millet was “better deceived” by the traders who launched LIBRA and that he was unaware of the financing mechanism.
President Millet could eventually face impeachment charges after the country’s fintech chamber admitted that LIBRA may have been a scam.
“This scandal has brought shame on us internationally and we need to file an impeachment motion against the president,” opposition lawmaker Leandro Santoro told Reuters on February 16.
On February 17, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, sharing a photo of Milley with the caption: “If printing money eliminates poverty, then printing diplomas eliminates stupidity.”On X, Milley retweeted several screenshots of Trump’s posts.
In an interview with Coffeezilla, LIBRA founder Hayden Davis defended the token’s collapse, calling it a failure rather than a scam, and said: “All the complaints on social media are from people who didn’t participate in the transaction. If they participated in the transaction, you would never hear them complain.”
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