Key takeaways
- Argentine investigators recover a document from lobbyist Novelli's phone detailing a $5 million payment for Milei's $LIBRA promotion
- $LIBRA peaks at $4 billion market cap before crashing over 90%, with eight insider wallets withdrawing $107 million
- Forensic analysis by DATIP shows Milei shared the token contract address before it was publicly available
The $5 Million Agreement
A document recovered from the phone of lobbyist Mauricio Novelli has laid out a structured $5 million payment deal tied to Argentine President Javier Milei's promotion of the $LIBRA token, according to a forensic report by the Directorate of Technological Support for Criminal Investigations (DATIP).
The document, dated February 11, 2025, opened with "Hello friends, this is the final agreement discussed with H," with "H" referring to Hayden Davis, CEO of Kelsier Ventures and the driving force behind $LIBRA. The payment was split into three tranches: $1.5 million upfront in liquid tokens or cash, a second $1.5 million contingent on Milei publicly announcing Davis as a presidential advisor on X, and $2 million tied to signing a formal in-person consulting contract on blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI).
From Tweet to $4 Billion to Collapse
Three days after the document was created, on February 14, 2025, Milei published a post on X promoting $LIBRA at 7:01 p.m. The token's market cap surged past $4 billion within hours. By the next morning, it had collapsed more than 90%.
Phone records analyzed by DATIP paint a detailed picture of the timeline. Between 6:54 and 7:03 p.m. on February 14, multiple calls were exchanged among Milei, his sister Karina Milei, and Novelli. At least five messages were sent at 7:01 p.m., the exact minute the promotional post went live. By 11:37 p.m., as the token's price began cratering, senior government advisor Santiago Caputo joined the call chain. Milei deleted the post the following day.
Critically, forensic analysis found that the token's contract address was not publicly available at the time Milei shared it, contradicting his later claim that he simply found the information on the internet.
Insiders Cash Out, Investigations Stall
Eight wallets connected to the $LIBRA project withdrew $107 million as retail buyers piled in. Davis alone held over $100 million in proceeds from wallets he controlled. An Argentine parliamentary committee concluded in November 2025 that Milei had provided "essential collaboration" in the scheme.
The institutional response has been less decisive. The Anti-Corruption Office (OA) cleared Milei of ethics violations in June 2025, and his government dissolved the investigative task force the month prior. Bank accounts connected to the project were unfrozen by court order. A federal criminal investigation and a U.S. class action lawsuit remain ongoing.
Milei has consistently denied any financial involvement, stating he "published a tweet supporting a supposed private venture" and had "no connection whatsoever" to the project.
Why It Matters
This is what getting rugged by a head of state looks like. A sitting president promoted a token that made insiders $107 million while retail investors lost everything. The recovered document shows this was not a casual endorsement or a misguided tweet. It was a structured business transaction with tiered payments.
The lesson for Bitcoiners is straightforward: fame, power, and reputation are not collateral. If the president of a G20 nation will put his name on a sh!tcoin for $5 million, so will anyone else with a platform. There is no person alive whose endorsement makes a token worth buying. Stay humble, stack sats.
