BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argen-tina’s presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said yesterday that it was “insulting” to speculate that bribes where involv-ed in the case of libertarian President Javier Milei promoting a cryptocurrency that rapidly slumped.
Milei recommended the little-known crypto coin $LIBRA late on Friday in a post on X, but later deleted the posting and denied having any link to the cryptocurrency.
“We understand there was no attitude that went against public ethics,” Adorni said in a press conference, saying there were no plans to fire any officials over wrongdoing.
A federal judge is investigating Milei’s involvement in what the finance chamber said may have amounted to a “rug pull” scam.
A “rug pull” is a scam in which a coin’s backers lure multiple investors, sending the cryptocurrency’s value soaring, then quickly withdraw their funds, leaving investors with worthless tokens.
The scandal has hit Argentina’s financial sector, bringing its closely-watched risk index 11EMJ down 27 units to 701 basis points and causing the leading S&P Merval index .MERV to slump on Monday, though it recovered ground Tuesday, trading up over 6%.
Over-the-counter sovereign debt meanwhile weakened some of 0.5% on average.
“The $LIBRA scandal shook the world and created a lot of buzz,” said financial analyst Miguel Boggiano.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo on Monday told local media that there was “no fraud, no crime, no corruption,” and ruled out that the scandal would affect negotiations with the IMF, which he said were “on the right track.”
