Seven Calls, $250M Gone: Milei's Late-Night LIBRA Chats Just Got Leaked

Federal prosecutors just dropped a plot twist dirtier than a rug pull: phone logs show Argentine President Javier Milei made seven calls with a key LIBRA token backer on the night the meme coin launched—because apparently "minimal involvement" means seven phone calls, a sister, and two advisers all in one evening.

The calls went down on February 14, 2025—because nothing says romantic Valentine's Day in Argentina like coordinating a crypto grift—between Milei and Mauricio Novelli, one of the entrepreneurs behind the Solana-based token, before and after Milei's now-deleted X post endorsing LIBRA. Within hours of Milei's promotion, the token's market cap mooned past $4 billion before dumping over 90%, draining roughly $87 million in liquidity and wiping out an estimated $250 million in investor funds. Classic diamond hands to paper hands pipeline.

Novelli also reportedly called Milei's sister Karina and two other top presidential advisers that evening. WhatsApp messages recovered from Novelli's phone contain references to payments, including a 2023 audio where he told an assistant to budget "the usual 2,000 for Milei" as a monthly salary, and an April 2024 message referencing "the 4,000 we need to give to Karina." Someone's allowance budget was more organized than most DeFi protocols.

Draft documents on Novelli's device outlined a $1.5 million payment scheme tied to Milei publicly naming Hayden Davis as a presidential adviser. Davis, head of Kelsier Ventures, transferred $507,500 via crypto exchange Bitget just 42 minutes after Milei posted a selfie calling Davis his blockchain and AI adviser. 42 minutes—faster than most people can withdraw from a centralized exchange when they see the price crashing.

No evidence has emerged showing Milei agreed to or received any payments. Argentina's anti-corruption office cleared Milei in June 2025, ruling he acted in a personal capacity. The president has not commented on the phone logs and has not been formally charged. Innocent until proven guilty, but also silent when confronted with seven call logs. Bold strategy, Cotton.

"The launch and promotion of LIBRA was not at all improvised or accidental on the part of the president," opposition lawmaker Maximiliano Ferraro told the New York Times. "It was a planned, coordinated and deliberately executed operation." In other words, this wasn't a happy little accident—it was a feature, not a bug.

Novelli's lawyer maintains his client is "entirely unconnected to any wrongdoing" and is seeking to have the phone evidence excluded. The federal criminal probe remains open. The plot thickens, the token dumps, and the lawyers keep billing.