$LIBRA Ruling: The Controversial Idea Used to Remove Plaintiffs from the Case

Argentina’s Federal Court has upheld the removal of several plaintiffs from the $LIBRA case, weakening the accusation in a probe into the cryptocurrency promoted on social media by President Javier Milei and later suspected of being part of a scam.

The ruling, signed by judges Mariano Llorens and Pablo Bertuzzi, rests on a controversial premise. The judges wrote that the investigation had produced a scenario showing “a weakening of the theory of the case contained in the initial complaint.” They added that the evidence gathered so far indicated that the original criminal hypothesis had become “diluted.”

The decision creates a sharp legal tension. Another chamber of the same Federal Court had previously approved the participation of these plaintiffs, who played an active role by proposing evidence and publicizing the proceedings. Removing them therefore required an explanation of what had changed in the case. The judges did not go as far as trial judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi, who had questioned whether the affected parties actually owned the digital wallets, but they still accepted his decision to exclude them.

“

With the progress of the investigation, a scenario has emerged that shows a weakening of the theory of the case contained in the initial complaint.

The ruling does not identify concrete investigative findings that caused the alleged retreat. Instead, it says the plaintiffs failed to prove the “deception” or “fraudulent scheme” required for an embezzlement case, and failed to identify the false statement that led them to buy the currency. That reasoning also minimizes the importance of Milei’s post promoting $LIBRA as a project intended to finance Argentine businesses, which never happened.

The article says the evidence collected by prosecutor Eduardo Taiano’s office points in the opposite direction. Although the complaints have criticized the pace of the investigation and the failure to carry out some measures, searches, expert examinations and transaction-tracing studies produced material that reinforced, rather than weakened, the possibility of a coordinated operation. Among the details cited are seven telephone calls between Milei and Novelli on the evening when the currency was launched, rose sharply and collapsed, along with later contacts.

“

The evidence collected so far through the activity carried out by the parties in the proceedings indicates that, as of today, the initial criminal hypothesis has been diluted.