Argentina has dismissed the criminal case at the center of the LIBRA token scandal. The ruling covers President Javier Milei, his sister Karina Milei, U.S. businessman Hayden Davis, and eight other defendants. Federal Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi issued the 60-page decision on October 23, after prosecutor Eduardo Taiano asked for the case to be dropped. The inquiry began in February 2025, the same month the token went live, and the judge found that no offense was established. The dismissal closes the criminal inquiry at the first-instance federal level, though disputes tied to the case remain pending.

Milei promoted LIBRA on X during its launch, framing the project as support for Argentine businesses. The token rallied briefly and then crashed, and the president later deleted his post. The episode drew close scrutiny because Milei was head of state at the time. Estimates of investor losses vary, with some reports exceeding $200 million.

Court Finds Legal Elements of the Offenses Not Established

The investigation examined claims of fraud, influence peddling, abuse of authority, and conflicts involving public office. Judge Martínez de Giorgi accepted the prosecutor's view that the facts did not satisfy the legal elements of those offenses, holding that a token price collapse and investor losses, without a provable deceptive act, did not amount to criminal fraud. That distinction between a failed investment and a provable deception was the hinge of the ruling, and it explains how a case tied to reported losses above $200 million ended with the file closed before any defendant was called for formal questioning, a point opposition lawmakers later seized on.

The said neither a price decline nor investor losses alone establish criminal fraud. It found no identified false statement that directly persuaded buyers to acquire LIBRA, and said public attention surrounding a promoter does not automatically prove a deceptive scheme. The ruling added that the investigation failed to show an induced error and direct financial harm arising from such a deception. In the court's view, the market outcome by itself was insufficient to sustain the charges.

Argentine Judge Drops LIBRA Criminal Probe Against President Milei and Hayden Davis

According to Reuters, Argentine federal judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi has dropped the criminal investigation into President Javier Milei, his sister Karina Milei, and U.S. businessman Hayden… pic.twitter.com/LxME8TuBuM

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 24, 2026

For Milei, the judge recognized that his office gave the token launch added visibility. Yet the ruling said that institutional influence, by itself, was not evidence of fraud. Investigators did not find that the X post was an official act or used state resources, and the court said there was no record of an administrative order or government contract tied to the promotion.

The judge likewise dismissed the case against Karina Milei, the president's secretary general. Investigators examined unsigned files recovered from Mauricio Novelli's phone but did not establish that she received payment for arranging meetings with the president. The court said the material did not prove a remunerated arrangement or influence peddling.

Davis described himself as a launch adviser and denied wrongdoing. The judge found insufficient evidence of criminal coordination between Davis and government officials. The dismissal also covered Novelli, Manuel Terrones Godoy, Sergio Morales, Julian Peh, María Alicia Rafaele, María Pía Novelli, Camilo Rodríguez Blanco, and Orlando Mellino, and the case file was closed.

Political Reaction to the Closure

Reaction to the ruling split sharply along political lines. The presidential office described the decision as proof of Milei's innocence, and Milei said the case had been a political and media operation against him.

Opposition lawmakers challenged the closure. Deputy Maximiliano Ferraro of the opposition criticized the failure to call the defendants for formal questioning and said investigators did not complete measures sought by affected investors. Those criticisms do not change the court's ruling.

However, disputes over the removal of private complainants from the Argentine proceedings remain pending before the Federal Criminal Cassation Court. That disagreement concerns the complainants' participation in the case, not an established reversal of the dismissal. The complainants' standing to take part in the proceedings remains contested, and how the Cassation Court resolves the question will shape who can participate in the case going forward.

Related Litigation in the United States

The LIBRA scandal has also produced litigation outside Argentina. A New York federal court dismissed a separate class action in September involving Kelsier, Davis, former Meteora CEO Benjamin Chow, and Meteora. The case was dismissed on procedural and substantive grounds. With both the Buenos Aires criminal case and the New York class action resolved by dismissal, token buyers have so far obtained no court-awarded remedy in either jurisdiction.

Limits of the Ruling

The Argentine decision did not award compensation to token buyers, nor did it determine a single final investor-loss figure. It concluded only that the evidence gathered did not establish criminal liability under the offenses examined, and it did not directly assess the token's commercial merits. The next procedural marker in the Argentine case is the Cassation Court's pending decision on the complainants' standing, while the ruling itself left open the questions of a final loss figure and any compensation.

Earlier reporting described attempts to trace digital assets and obtain records from cryptocurrency platforms. Some investigative requests were incomplete or produced limited results. Authorities also could not determine the content of certain calls between Milei and Novelli near the launch.