An Argentine federal judge has dismissed the criminal case arising from President Javier Milei's promotion of the $LIBRA memecoin, closing the investigation against Milei, his sister Karina Milei, U.S. businessman Hayden Davis and eight other people. The 60-page decision, dated October 23, was issued by Federal Criminal and Correctional Court No. 8 in case CFP 772/2025.

The court's legal finding

Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi ordered the defendants' dismissal under Article 336(3) of Argentina's Code of Criminal Procedure, concluding that the reported events did not fit a criminal offense. The order covers Javier Milei, Karina Milei, Mauricio Novelli, Manuel Terrones Godoy, Sergio Morales, Hayden Davis, Julian Peh, María Rafaele, María Pia Novelli, Camilo Rodríguez Blanco and Orlando Mellino. It directs that the matter be registered, notified and archived once the ruling is final.

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The investigation followed Milei's February 14, 2025 post promoting $LIBRA as a private project that would fund Argentine businesses. Complaints described the Solana-based token rising from about one cent to nearly $5 after the post, then collapsing as a small group of wallets sold. The ruling recounted allegations that roughly $100 million was withdrawn and more than 40,000 buyers suffered losses, but treated the market move and investor harm as a starting point for investigation rather than proof of fraud.

Promotion was not enough to prove deception

According to the decision, Milei's office and public profile may have given the launch greater reach, but that amplification did not by itself establish a fraudulent scheme. The court said investigators had not identified a concrete false statement or deceptive act that directly induced purchases. It also found no substantiated official administrative act, use of public resources or proven transfer of token proceeds to public officials that would support the corruption theories examined in the case.

The judge reached a similar conclusion on allegations involving Karina Milei, Argentina's secretary general of the presidency. The evidence did not corroborate a specific illicit exchange or paid intermediary role, the ruling said. Prosecutor Eduardo Taiano had requested dismissal, and the court found that request legally and factually supported. None of the investigated people had been formally questioned, but the judge said a person facing a criminal accusation remains entitled to a definitive ruling when a statutory ground for dismissal applies.

A narrow criminal ruling

Reuters independently confirmed that the judge dropped the investigation and reported that wallets linked by blockchain researchers to the token's creator withdrew about $99 million. CoinDesk also reported the dismissal and said $LIBRA lost more than 95% after briefly trading near $5. Davis, who described himself as a launch adviser, has denied wrongdoing; Milei previously said he promoted the project in good faith and withdrew his support after learning more about it.

The outcome is significant because it ends the principal Argentine federal criminal case against the 11 named people, subject to the ruling becoming final. Its scope is narrower than a general judgment on $LIBRA. It does not restore the token's value, compensate purchasers or resolve every possible civil, regulatory or foreign proceeding. The decision instead turns on whether the evidence gathered in this criminal investigation established conduct matching the charged fraud and corruption offenses; the court concluded that it did not.

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