A key participant behind the Libra token bragged about shopping for entry to Argentine President Javier Milei’s inside circle months earlier than the memecoin’s scandalous launch and crash.
In textual content messages reviewed by CoinDesk, Hayden Davis, CEO of Kelsier Ventures, claimed he may “management” Milei due to funds he had been making to Karina Milei, a strong determine in Milei’s authorities, to not point out the president’s sister.
“I management that n****,” Davis claimed in textual content messages from mid-December, including, “I ship $$ to his sister and he indicators no matter I say and does what I need.”
CoinDesk obtained the textual content messages from a supply near the state of affairs who requested to not be recognized. Following the publication of this text, Michael Padovano, a spokesperson for Davis, instructed CoinDesk that Davis doesn’t recall sending such a message, and has no report on his cellphone of sending it.
The assertion continued as follows: “Current media reviews claiming I paid President Javier Milei or his sister, Karina Milei, to launch the Libra memecoin are utterly false. I by no means made any funds to them, nor did they request any. Their solely concern was guaranteeing proceeds from Libra would profit Argentina’s individuals and financial system.”
The assertion added: “That is nothing greater than a politically motivated assault on President Milei.”
Karina Milei, a key determine in her brother’s authorities, presently holds the submit of Basic Secretary of the Presidency of the Argentine Nation. Her workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.
It was unclear if any cash was exchanged between Davis and Milei’s inside circle upfront of Libra’s launch.
Davis’ December claims add a brand new dimension to an anti-corruption probe that Argentina’s presidential workplace has opened into Javier Milei, who, on Feb. 15, introduced consideration to the doomed Libra crypto as a novel approach to fund small companies in that nation.
However the greatest winner from the Solana-based memecoin’s launch was Davis and Kelsier Ventures. Wallets managed by the entities netted over $100 million in Libra’s early hours, when it soared to $5 after which crashed over 95%, wiping out thousands and thousands of {dollars} of speculative investments.
Opposition leaders in Argentina have threatened to name for an impeachment trial over the incident, which the native press has coined, “criptogate.” The scandal is weighing on Argentina’s inventory market and pushed Milei into “harm management,” stated one observer of the nation’s crypto area.
Within the December textual content messages, Davis claimed he may get Milei to advertise ventures on social media. Milei’s tweet about Libra two months later fueled its rise. When he deleted the tweet after simply 5 hours – and after on-chain sleuths had found proof of shady dealings – Libra’s worth had already crashed.
UPDATE (Feb. 18, 2025, 23:55 UTC): This text has been up to date with remark from Hayden Davis. He denies making funds to President Milei or his sister.
