The Milei ‘Libragate’ debacle took months to develop, days to unfold

The whirlwind scandal involving Argentine President Javier Milei and the Libra memecoin took only days to unfold — but seems to have been in the works for several months. 

“Libragate” kicked off on Feb. 14, when the Solana-based Libra token was promoted by Milei on X, causing it to rally within minutes. It skyrocketed to over $4.50 before rapidly crashing below $0.20 within five hours of launching.

The quick price action led many to suspect a pump and dump. In Argentina, political opposition called for Milei’s impeachment, while one of the project’s affiliates said he received death threats.

Disgruntled investors are now demanding answers from the token’s team. The drama occurred in a matter of hours, yet the story goes back several months — featuring a host of alleged players who present opposing accounts of what happened. 

Libra project developers meet Milei back in June

The Libra token is part of a funding project called Viva la Libertad, aimed at stimulating economic growth in Argentina. Its mission is “to boost the Argentine economy by funding small projects and local businesses, supporting those who seek to grow their ventures and contribute to the country’s development,” according to its website.

The Libra project involves a number of alleged players, some of whom have denied involvement or claimed that they are not as involved as the media would have one think:

• Hayden Davis, head of Kelsier Ventures as well as a reported founder and alleged adviser to the Libra project

• Mauricio Novelli, a trader who has reportedly been an acquaintance of Milei since 2021

• Manuel Terrones Godoy, a Spanish-Argentine businessman who is now reportedly a gaming streamer

• Javier Milei, the president of Argentina 

• Dave Portnoy, founder of sports blog Barstool Sports as well as a podcaster and finance influencer 

• Julian Peh, the head of KIP Protocol, a Web3 project that disclosed it was involved in Libra

“Libragate” truly began in June 2024, when streamer Manuel Terrones Godoy and Mauricio Novelli, an acquaintance of Milei, reportedly visited the presidential residences. Soon after, the duo introduced Milei to KIP Protocol head Julian Peh, according to Página 12.

The Milei government stated that the president met once again with Peh and the KIP protocol team on Oct. 19, 2024, “where he was informed of the company’s intention to develop a project called ‘Viva la Libertad.’”

Some months later, in January 2025, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy claims he was introduced to Kaiser Ventures head Hayden Davis under the auspices of learning more about crypto, as Portnoy was interested in launching a coin. According to Portnoy, Davis told him about the Enron token launch, which many have called a rug pull.

“He told me he was helping with that deal,” Portnoy said in an X Spaces session on Feb. 16.

When Portnoy supposedly asked him about the project being a rug pull, Davis started “blaming other people.” Per Portnoy, Davis claimed he was just “hired to do the tech.”

Also in January, Davis met Milei at the presidential residence in Buenos Aires. The president posted on X that he had a “very interesting chat” with the American businessman, who was advising him about the “impact and applications of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence in the country.”

Portnoy said that Davis contacted him while in Buenos Aires, claiming the support of President Milei, which added legitimacy to Davis’ claims about the Libra project. Portnoy claimed that Davis added him to the project’s “marketing ledger” and floated the idea of interviewing Milei, as Portnoy had interviewed US President Donald Trump some years before.

Libra token launch and Milei’s tweet

On Feb. 14, the Libra token launched, followed by a since-deleted post from Milei supporting the project.

Portnoy claims to have bought “a shit-ton” of Libra after seeing the post, saying that he thought the project was going to the moon.

After telling Davis he would tweet about the project, Portnoy claims Davis sent him some 6 million LIBRA but did not want Portnoy to disclose that the project gave him the coins. Concerned about the optics and the ethics of the move, Portnoy said he sent the coins back immediately. 

Libra’s crypto moon shot was short-lived. The price skyrocketed to $4, but it soon came crashing down. Milei quickly deleted his promotional post, and on Feb. 15, he claimed he was merely promoting a “supposed private enterprise as I have so many other times.”

Moves to impeach Milei, Davis’ $100 million plan

Soon after the token plummeted, Argentina’s own fintech chamber recognized the project as a potential rug pull, according to Reuters. 

On Feb. 15, the Argentine opposition lawmaker Leandro Santoro said, “This scandal, which embarrasses us on an international scale, requires us to launch an impeachment request against the president.” 

As the token price collapsed and accusations began flying at Milei, Davis released a video statement on Feb. 16 in which he claimed he had $100 million — ostensibly from sniping — to inject back into the project. He also called himself an adviser to the Milei government and voiced his full support for the president: “I absolutely back him.”

The Office of the President released its own statement just over an hour later, claiming that Davis “had no and does not have any connection with the Argentine government.”

The announcement also states that Milei has called on an investigation task unit and the Anti-Corruption Offices to investigate whether there was any improper conduct from the government, including himself, regarding the Libra token. 

“All information gathered during the investigation will be handed over to the courts to determine whether any of the companies or individuals linked to the KIP Protocol project committed a crime,” it read.

Milei’s fraud charges and the Coffeezilla interview

Some in Argentina were unsatisfied with the efforts of the president’s office to investigate itself. 

On Feb. 17, Argentine lawyers Marcos Zelaya and Jonatan Baldiviezo, along with engineer María Eva Koutsovitis and economist Claudio Lozano, reportedly filed charges of fraud against President Milei in a criminal court. 

Baldiviezo further accused the president of violating Argentina’s Public Ethics Law — its framework for public officials that requires them to declare assets and potential conflicts of interest. 

According to Argentine newspaper Clarin, the law firm Moyano & Associates has also filed a criminal complaint with the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It requests that those departments investigate the organizers of the Libra token project and any role that Javier may have potentially played. 

Davis, for his part, attempted to clear the air and distance himself from the project on Feb. 17 in an interview with scam investigator and YouTuber Stephen Findeisen, more broadly known as Coffeezilla.

Davis argued in the interview that the project was not a rug pull but “a plan gone very wrong, at a presidential level” and that he was “not the main player here, and I don’t want to be the main player. That’s why I’ve always sat in the facilitator standpoint.”

“I wasn’t taking any money on this deal. I was doing this on behalf of Milei. I’m his adviser.”

Among his many claims — which Findeisen scrutinized throughout the interview — Davis called memecoins a casino and doubted the very concept of insider trading.

“The idea of insiders, to me, is always bullshit, because every memecoin I’ve ever known or invested in or been a part of… the people that benefit are the people that know. The people that benefit the most are the people that structure the deal.”

Related: What are sniper bots, and how to stop token sniping exploits?

Davis also admitted that he was involved in the Official Melania (MELANIA) token, which many have characterized as a rug pull. He admitted that the team wanted to use sniper bots to take advantage of price fluctuations.

“I was part of it. I think the team did want to snipe it because of how big the snipe was on Trump’s.”

Milei’s potential impeachment and Libra’s $100 million question 

The situation around Libra is rapidly developing as more people come forward, others change their stories, and more lawsuits are filed.

The main question is what to do next and what Davis will do with the $100 million he claims to have in his possession that could revive the project. 

Davis himself doesn’t seem to have an idea of how or whether to refund investors or reinvest the money — which includes profits, fees and other funds. 

“I need somebody trustworthy to come to come help me because I don’t know what the fuck to do.”

In Argentina, the opposition’s calls to prosecute Milei are getting louder — although, as reported in Bloomberg, an attempt at outright impeachment is unlikely to succeed. The Peronist opposition simply does not have the two-thirds majority necessary. 

Furthermore, decreasing inflation and increasing wages have kept the president more popular than the more fragmented, less favored opposition.

Regardless of the outcome, the involvement of a head of state adds questions about the effect that relatively unregulated memecoins could have on politics. US President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump launched their own coins in January, sparking ethics concerns over the potential for corruption and conflicts of interest. 

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions