Milei, Argentina president, faces impeachment calls
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, is facing calls for his impeachment and legal action for fraud. This comes following his promotion of cryptocurrency on social media. The president posted on X about the $LIBRA coin on Friday. He said it would help fund small businesses and start-ups, even sharing a link to buy which raised its price.
Within hours of the post however, Milei deleted it and the cryptocurrency plummeted in value. Investors lost most of their money. Opposition members of the congress have revealed that they plan to begin impeachment proceedings against the controversial populist president. Lawyers meanwhile have filed complaints of fraud in the criminal court of Argentina.
Online, people are accusing Milei of a “rug pull” which refers to when promoters of a cryptocurrency draws in buyers, only for it to stop trading activity and run off with the money generated from its sales. They highlighted that the link used to buy the phone referenced a phrase the president has used in speeches.
The presidential office said that the decision to remove the post was to combat “speculation” after a public reaction to the launch of the cryptocurrency. Milei, it said, was not involved with the cryptocurrency’s development, adding that the government’s anti-corruption office would investigate and determine whether anyone had acted improperly, including the president.
“The crime of fraud was committed, in which the president’s actions were essential,” Jonatan Baldiviezo, one of the plaintiffs who filed the legal action said to the Associated Press. The president’s political opponents have seized this opportunity.
Milei has been branded a “crypto scammer” by former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in a post seen over 6 million times. Argentina’s main opposition party said it would file a request for impeachment, calling it an “unprecedented scandal.”
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