Milei & Crypto Firm: Lobbying, Gifts & $LIBRA Token Deal Details Emerge
A draft “irrevocable offer” of partnership between Mauricio Novelli and his co-defendants in the criminal case over the failed LIBRA cryptocurrency, Manuel Torres Godoy and Sergio Morales, is dated November 21, 2024, according to documents obtained by investigators. The offer comes from KELSIER GROUP CO., the company of Hayden Davis, the creator of the cryptocurrency whose launch was promoted by President Javier Milei.
The draft proposal, which sources say was later formalized into a contract for substantial sums, was recovered from Novelli’s cell phone. Coincidentally, on the same day the document is dated, Novelli exchanged WhatsApp messages with a presidential administration official thanking him for a gift – a perfume brought from a trip to the United States. The exchanges continued, and days later, Novelli wrote to the same contact in the presidential office to ask if they had enjoyed the fragrance and, while at it, inquire about an unfamiliar businessman who had appeared at the Tech Forum on October 19th, seeking a photo with Javier Milei.
The contract draft, found on Novelli’s phone – and noted as unsigned in the DATIP report – outlined concrete objectives: securing agreements “of $10 million to be reached before April 30, 2025, and extending the agreement to a period of 2.5 years upon approval,” “promoting Argentina’s progressive stance on innovation in blockchain/web3/AI,” “launching a pilot program for an Argentine blockchain initiative, replicable in other regions, including the launch of a ‘Freedom Coin’,” and “establishing dialogue with government authorities to discuss relevant issues related to blockchain/web3/AI: Javier Milei, Karina Milei, cabinet members, and members of Congress.”
A second Tech Forum event, planned for 2025, was too stipulated in the draft, but was ultimately cancelled following the LIBRA scandal. Details of the agreement with Davis’s company, as outlined in the draft recovered from Novelli’s phone, are currently under investigation.
Alongside this roadmap, the chats reveal a potential dynamic in Novelli’s relationship with the presidential circle. On December 3rd, he wrote to the presidential official: “Just had a thought. The gentleman who was extremely insistent on meeting with Javier at the event. Did he maintain insisting?”
The official replied, “No, no, he didn’t call again after the photo at your event.” Novelli then made clear his interest in monitoring such contacts: “Great!! Let me realize if any other questions arise. Especially if they are from the crypto or blockchain sector.”
This exchange followed another dialogue between the two, also included in the DATIP report. “Hello Mauricio, thank you so much for the perfume, you shouldn’t have bothered,” the official wrote on November 21, 2024, referring to the gift Novelli had brought from New York, where he traveled after the Tech Forum where Milei appeared on October 19th. Previously, she had sent him: “Mauricio, I couldn’t greet you, but I wanted to thank you for everything, it all went great, thank you very much. Greetings!!!!!” Novelli responded later, from the United States, with an apology and a photo from the New York Stock Exchange: “where I am now,” he informed her.
The information compiled by DATIP represents preliminary evidence whose probative value will be evaluated by investigators, judicial sources explained. Novelli, Torres Godoy, Morales, and Davis are all currently under investigation for alleged crimes related to the launch of $LIBRA and have retained legal counsel.
Sponsorship tiers for the October 2024 Tech Forum ranged from $5,000 to $50,000 for the “black” level, according to promotional materials also recovered from Novelli’s phone. A flyer promoting the event presented it “in collaboration with Argentina.gob.ar” and featured President Milei as one of the “speakers.”
While the “irrevocable offer” dated November 21st outlined the contractual need to “establish dialogue” with Milei and his inner circle, the chats – including those from the same day – suggest Novelli had already been actively monitoring, and potentially filtering, attempts to approach the President by actors in the crypto sector without going through him.
These events occurred in the months leading up to the launch of $LIBRA on February 14, 2025, which was accompanied by a post on Milei’s X account promoting the token. DATIP analysis determined that Novelli had eight contacts with the President on that day, beginning at 6:44 PM, 6:54 PM, 6:56 PM, and 6:58 PM, before Milei’s promotional post at 7:01 PM. Two minutes later, another communication was registered at 7:03 PM, followed by further contacts at 7:32 PM, 10:00 PM, and 10:05 PM.
When investigators ordered an analysis of the seized phones, the prosecution included a search for messages and files related to the “Tech Forum Argentina,” the technology event organized by Novelli where the President first met Davis and Torres Godoy months before his post about LIBRA. Investigators requested a search for a wide range of keywords related to the cryptocurrency world, including terms like “crypto,” “token,” “memecoin,” “$libra,” “solana,” “usdt,” “usdc,” and “pump and dump,” as well as references to exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, and political figures like “president,” “milei,” “karina milei,” “olivos,” and “casa rosada.” Many of these terms appeared in the DATIP report now being analyzed by the prosecutor and federal judge Marcelo Martínez De Giorgi.
The judicial investigation seeks to determine whether the launch of the token involved a financial scheme to artificially inflate its value, allowing a small group of traders to profit before the price collapsed. According to the complaint that initiated the case, the cryptocurrency’s value rose from a few cents to nearly $5 within hours of the President’s post, before plummeting, allegedly generating millions in profits for those involved in the initial transactions and losses for later investors, many of whom were encouraged by the presidential post.