A plaintiff in an Argentine criminal case investigating the LIBRA scandal has demanded the immediate arrest of two figures close to President Javier Miley who were linked to the February token launch.
Recent developments in the investigation also revealed that Miley significantly underestimated the number of Argentine retailers affected by the LIBRA price collapse.
The judge considers the request for arrest
The ongoing investigation into the LIBRA scandal in Argentina continues to complicate matters for figures closely associated with the token's launch.
Both the congressional panel and the parallel criminal investigation into the LIBRA scandal saw new developments this week.
Martin Romeo, a cryptography expert and acting plaintiff in the criminal investigation, asked federal judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi on Tuesday to order the detention of Mauricio Novelli and Manuel Terrones Godoy, two presidential advisers who were quickly linked to the token launch.
The request follows a series of revelations made by the congressional committee. Analyzing this information for the criminal investigation, Romeo concluded that Novelli, Terrones Godoy and American investor Hayden Mark Davis, who was also involved in the launch of LIBRA, made a series of illegal transactions that led to the scandal.
Based on this information, Romeo asked the court to order the arrest of Novelli and Terrones Godoy, both living in Argentina. He argued that they pose a flight risk because Novelli has Italian citizenship and Terrones Godoy has a permanent residence in Mexico.
The judge has not yet ruled on the motion. However, the latest findings provide important evidence against individuals closely associated with the LIBRA scandal.
The committee collects wallet transaction data
A congressional committee headed by Representative Maximiliano Ferraro recently received new information about individuals associated with the launch of LIBRA.
“Based on information requests we sent to several cryptocurrency exchange platforms, we received data that not only directly contradicts President Miley’s statements, but also begins to demonstrate the connections between the main players both inside and outside the country,” Ferraro told BeInCrypto in an interview in Spanish.
Among the platforms that responded were Binance and Gate.io, which confirmed that Novelli has a virtual wallet with the former, and Terrones Godoy with the latter.
This information allowed the congressional committee and plaintiffs in the criminal investigation to reconstruct the financial scheme before and after the launch.
Davis transfers funds after meeting Miley
Romeo, who gained access to information obtained by a congressional committee, began tracking the movements of Novelli and Terrones Godoy wallet addresses around the time of LIBRA's launch.
He was also able to trace Davis' wallet address when Davis reimbursed Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy for the $5 million he lost after launching LIBRA.
On January 30, Miley received Davis at the Casa Rosada, the executive headquarters in Buenos Aires.
Romeo discovered that Davis made two transfers totaling $1,015,000 to a Bitget account that same day. A few days later, $695,000 worth of these funds were transferred to Novelli's Binance wallet, and the remaining $320,000 was sent to the Argentine equivalent of a small private bank associated with Novelli and Terrones Godoy.
“What I don’t know, since I haven’t received this information yet, is who the owner of the BitGet account is,” Romeo explained to BeInCrypto.
On February 3, just eleven days before LIBRA launched, Davis made another transaction. He sent $1,991,000 to an unknown BitGet account.
“$800,000 goes to a hot wallet that I don’t know who owns and don’t know if I can trace, and another $1,191,000 goes to the bank. [associated with Novelli and Terrones Godoy]- Romeo explained.
A day later, surveillance cameras captured Novelli, his mother and sister manipulating several safes at a Galicia bank branch in the Buenos Aires Martinez neighborhood. The footage shows Novelli's mother and sister carrying a backpack and a purse, the contents of which are impossible to make out.
According to Ferraro, a congressional committee is currently analyzing the hypothesis of whether the money received by Novelli and Terrones Godoy through a private bank was the same money that Novelli allegedly kept in a branch in Galicia.
It is also being investigated whether Novelli withdrew the money from safe deposit boxes after launching LIBRA.
In addition to the transactions that the Congressional committee and Romeo were able to track, information obtained from centralized exchanges further complicates Miles' alleged involvement in the launch of LIBRA.
Official data contradicts the president's statements
During a national television interview a few days after LIBRA's price crash, Miley said the number of Argentine investors affected by the token's launch was in the single digits.
According to information obtained by a congressional committee from Ripio, a leading centralized exchange in Argentina, the data paints a different picture.
“Ripio told us that 1,358 residents of the country purchased the $LIBRA token, although Miley himself said that “no more than five Argentines” were affected. He lied on national television to downplay the massive scam,” Ferraro told BeInCrypto.
This number does not take into account the number of Argentines who used decentralized platforms to purchase the token, as well as those who purchased LIBRA abroad.
He added that Miley has still not been able to explain how he obtained the 43-digit contract number he posted on his X account to promote LIBRA. Ferraro noted that the information was not public before this message.
Last month, a congressional committee also called Miley and his sister Karina, who is currently serving as the president's secretary-general, to testify about their alleged participation in the event.
“President Javier Miley did not respond to the request we sent him twice, which included a fairly simple and short questionnaire. His sister Carina Miley also did not testify on the two occasions when she was called and did not offer any cooperation, proposing an alternative date,” Ferraro added.
Novelli and Terrones Godoy, who were also referred to by the commission, also did not appear.
On Tuesday, the commission approved a formal subpoena for Mileu to testify. He also authorized Ferraro to seek the assistance of law enforcement authorities to ensure the appearance of his sister Karina, along with Novelli and Terrones Godoy.
“If they do not come to testify, we will exercise that right once the Federal Court rules on our appeal,” Ferraro said.
Read original story Argentine court asked to arrest president's allies in LIBRA scandal Kamila Grigera Naon on beincrypto.com
