By Leila Miller
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 23 (Reuters) - An Argentine federal judge dropped a criminal investigation into President Javier Milei and his sister Karina Milei over a meme coin scandal on Friday, finding no evidence of fraud, according to court records.
Federal judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi had been investigating Milei's role in promoting a cryptocurrency that crashed, looking into allegations of fraud in the coin's launch.
Milei had recommended the little-known crypto coin Libra in a post on X in February 2025, kicking off a brief rally. He later deleted his post and denied having any link to the cryptocurrency, which soon plunged.
Martinez de Giorgi wrote that, while Milei's institutional standing could have given the coin's launch "greater impact" when he posted about it on X, those things "do not, in themselves, amount to a fraudulent scheme."
At the time of the currency's crash, Milei said he had acted "in good faith" and accused his political rivals of trying to take advantage of the situation.
"I was not aware of the details of the project and once I found out, I decided to not continue giving it publicity," he said.
Around $99 million worth of cryptocurrency was withdrawn from the marketplace of the coin by eight digital wallets linked to the crypto token's creator, blockchain researchers said.
Argentina's fintech chamber at the time said the case could potentially be a "rug pull," in which the developers of a crypto token draw legitimate investments, pumping up the value, only to later dump their stake.
The federal judge on Friday also dismissed an investigation into US businessman Hayden Davis, who had described himself as a "launch adviser" for the token and has acknowledged that he held close to $100 million after the crash. Davis has denied any wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Leila Miller, Editing by Iñigo Alexander and Rosalba O'Brien)
