Libra Case: Novelli Asks Court to Remove Investors, Claims 'No Scam' Occurred

Mauricio Novelli, a lobbyist associated with Javier Milei who acted as a liaison during the launch of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency, has filed a motion with Argentine courts. He is requesting the exclusion of affected investors from the case, asserting that no scam took place concerning the token that was promoted by President Milei and subsequently collapsed rapidly.

Novelli's legal filing argues that a group of five investors involved in the case have no grounds to claim they were defrauded. The defense contends that over a year of proceedings has failed to identify a single victim financially harmed through deception. Novelli's lawyer, Daniel Rubinovich, presented the motion to federal judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi, who is overseeing the investigation into Novelli, Hayden Davis, Manuel Terrones Godoy, and Karina Milei's roles in the cryptocurrency's creation.

The defense maintains that the typical sequence required for a scam under the Penal Code, deception, error, disposition of assets, or harm, is not met. They argue the plaintiffs are not "aggrieved parties" but rather investors in a risky market. The filing states, "No objectively false statement attributable to the defendants has been identified. What appears in the summary is only a speculative phenomenon typical of an unregulated market; a digital asset of extreme volatility; a technologically possible project; and a series of asset decisions made freely by those who decided to operate within that environment."

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No se ha identificado ninguna afirmación objetivamente falsa atribuible a los imputados. Lo que aparece en el sumario es sólo un fenómeno especulativo propio de un mercado no regulado; un activo digital de extrema volatilidad; un proyecto tecnológicamente posible; y un cúmulo de decisiones patrimoniales adoptadas libremente por quienes decidieron operar dentro de ese entorno.

Novelli's defense further posits that investors "did not act under a false representation of reality, but voluntarily decided to enter a high-risk market with the expectation of quick profits." The sharp decline of the $LIBRA token, from nearly five dollars after Milei's tweet to less than one dollar, is attributed to "market dynamics" rather than a prior deceptive maneuver. The defense emphasizes that investors willingly entered the memecoin market, known for its volatility.

The legal team argues that criminal law does not punish social influences, collective enthusiasm, or speculative processes, but rather concrete fraudulent maneuvers, which they claim are absent here. They note that the defendants are not accused of guaranteeing future profitability, price stability, or recovery of assets, nor of promising specific returns or hedging mechanisms. The defense asserts that the principle of "self-responsibility" applies to those who choose to acquire highly volatile, decentralized instruments outside state supervision.

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El derecho penal no castiga influencias sociales, entusiasmo colectivo ni procesos especulativos. Castiga maniobras fraudulentas concretas. Y aquí no aparece ninguna.