An Argentine federal judge on Oct. 23 dismissed the LIBRA memecoin criminal case against President Javier Milei, presidential Secretary-General Karina Milei, and nine others, including Kelsier Ventures’ Hayden Davis, ruling that the facts in the file did not constitute a crime.
According to Unchained’s translation of the 60-page decision, Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi granted a request from federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, finding that Taiano’s position was properly supported by the evidence. With no independent accusation before the court, the judge ruled as requested. The dismissal cites article 336, section 3 of Argentina’s national code of criminal procedure and includes the standard language that the proceedings leave the reputations of those investigated intact. None of the 11 people involved was ever formally questioned as a suspect.
The ruling circulated in Argentine media, but as of Friday evening it had not been posted on the judiciary’s official website.
Why the court said the record did not show a crime
On the fraud allegation, the judge accepted that support from a sitting president could give a project unusual reach and could affect how much trust some buyers placed in it. Still, according to Unchained’s translation, he wrote that this did not necessarily mean anyone had been given a false picture of reality.
He also warned against inferring fraud solely from the eventual distribution of gains and losses, and agreed with Taiano that the record did not establish any criminally relevant deception.
As for Javier Milei, the judge found no official act tied to the project and no use of public resources. On that basis, he rejected the accusations of abuse of authority and negotiations incompatible with public office.
Regarding Karina Milei, the ruling says the evidence did not establish any concrete illicit exchange, nor did it show that she acted as a paid go-between for access to her brother, which was the accusation made by two opposition lawmakers in the original complaint.
Decision is not yet final
The decision says the file will be archived only once the ruling becomes final.
Judge Martínez de Giorgi removed five investors as private plaintiffs on July 3, and a federal appeals panel upheld that move on Sept. 4. On Sept. 16, those investors asked the federal criminal cassation court to reinstate them. Unchained said it could not confirm the outcome of that request or whether anyone will appeal the latest ruling.
The 2025 LIBRA collapse
Milei promoted LIBRA in a Feb. 14, 2025 post on X, describing it as a private project intended to fund small Argentine businesses. Cointelegraph, citing Dexscreener data, reported that the token’s market capitalization peaked at $4.56 billion that night and then fell by more than 94% within 11 hours of its debut.
Milei later deleted the post and wrote hours afterward that he had no connection to the venture and had not known its details.
In May 2025, Circle froze $57 million in USDC linked to the scandal.
Separately, a federal judge in New York on Sept. 29 dismissed with prejudice an investor lawsuit against Kelsier Labs, Davis, and others.