Argentina Turns Up The Heat In Libra Scandal With Sweeping Asset...

Argentina’s order against Hayden Davis marks the latest move in the $250 million Libra fraud probe now spanning courts in Buenos Aires and New York.

Argentina’s federal judiciary ordered a freeze of assets belonging to US promoter Hayden Davis and two alleged intermediaries tied to the collapsed Libra token, deepening an investigation into one of Latin America’s biggest crypto scandals.

The order, issued by Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi, reportedly covers digital wallets, bank accounts and real-estate assets of Davis, Argentine operator Orlando Rodolfo Mellino and Colombian trader Favio Camilo Rodríguez Blanco.

Prosecutors said the asset freeze was necessary to prevent any transfer of assets that could represent the proceeds of fraud, as investigators work to trace a money trail estimated to be $100 million to $120 million.

The ruling directs the National Securities Commission (CNV) to notify all virtual asset service providers in the country, ensuring that the asset freeze is extended to local crypto platforms.

The case centers on Libra, a memecoin that gained traction in February after Argentine President Javier Milei briefly promoted Davis in a social-media post as a blockchain and AI adviser. Within hours, the token surged and then crashed, wiping out about $250 million from more than 40,000 retail investors.

Davis, who also promoted other meme-based tokens, has been cast as the central figure in the memecoin scheme. In May, a US judge in New York froze $57 million in USDC stablecoins tied to Davis and his collaborators at the now-defunct Meteora exchange.

The judge later lifted the freeze, ruling that Davis and former Meteora CEO Ben Chow had not tried to move the funds and that restitution remained possible.

The lawsuit, led by American and Latin-American investors, accuses Davis, Chow and others of coordinating a “rug pull.” Plaintiffs invoked the RICO Act, alleging that Libra and M3M3, another project by Davis, formed part of an ongoing pattern of organized fraud.

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Source: CoinTelegraph