How Argentina’s President Milei Helped Another Scam Token Before LIBRA
The Argentine congressional fee investigating President Javier Milei revealed proof exhibiting that two months earlier than the LIBRA scandal, Milei had already participated in a virtually an identical scheme.
The identical promoters who collaborated with Milei on LIBRA in February have been additionally concerned within the earlier KIP launch.
Earlier Scheme Surfaces
The newest section of the LIBRA investigation uncovered Milei’s prior involvement in one other token launch that was linked to figures already under scrutiny by Argentine authorities.
At Tuesday’s congressional session in Buenos Aires, Maximiliano Ferraro, the chief of the investigative committee, pointed to the December debut of the KIP token, spearheaded by KIP Protocol founder Julian Peh.
Ferraro highlighted the involvement of investors Mauricio Novelli and Manuel Terrones Godoy, key figures in each operations.
The fee additionally confirmed that knowledge from centralized exchanges revealed a direct cash path linking the identical people to the sooner KIP launch.
“The investigation recognized a pockets on the Gate.io alternate, belonging to Terrones Godoy, from which 59,992 USDT have been transferred to a Novelli account, beforehand linked to the $LIBRA rip-off. That identical evening, December 10, 2024, [Terrones] Godoy made extra transfers from that account totaling greater than 92,000 USDT,” the press launch first accessed by BeInCrypto learn.
Ferraro additionally spotlighted the in depth ties that Novelli, Terrones Godoy, Peh, and Milei have maintained over the previous yr.
Connections Traced Back to the Tech Forum
Last October, the Buenos Aires metropolis authorities sponsored the Argentina Tech Forum. During this occasion, Peh and Milei gave particular person conferences earlier than public officers and advisors near the President.
There, Peh was in a position to set up contact with Milei and his sister Karina Milei.
This institutional help gave Peh’s KIP Protocol the credibility it wanted to launch the KIP token in December. The token debuted below a contract with Gate.io and was subsequently listed on KuCoin and MEXC.
The operation adopted the same pump-and-dump model later seen with LIBRA. They launched a token with no actual utility, leveraging political momentum to drive up its worth after which cashing out on the peak to safe large income.
According to the knowledge supplied by the platform, investigators detected that Terrones Godoy and Novelli each purchased KIP tokens earlier than the worth surge. They then offered them to generate 600,000 {dollars} in a single day.
Ferraro additionally confirmed the motion of cash between Novelli and Terrones Godoy, taking place on the identical time.
“Terrones Godoy’s pockets acquired (with out paying for them) 6,750,000 KIP tokens and instantly started promoting them. Hours after initiating the liquidation, Terrones Godoy posted a tweet selling KIP. In whole, the account executed over 400 transactions and withdrew over 152,700 USDT in simply quarter-hour that evening, funds that embrace the cash despatched to Novelli,” the fee’s press launch learn.
Milei additionally used the KIP launch as a testing floor, setting the stage for what would later unfold in a strikingly comparable method with the LIBRA launch in February.
KIP Pilot as Test for LIBRA Launch
Two days earlier than the KIP launch, Milei shared a publish from Peh on social media asserting that KIP Protocol had determined to spend money on Argentina.
Martín Romeo, the plaintiff within the prison case in opposition to Milei, claimed that the operation acted as a check to gauge how presidential endorsement may affect the worth of a meme coin.
The consequence was rapid. When KIP launched, its worth skyrocketed, and Novelli and Terrones Godoy offered their KIP holdings.
“Everything we see as we speak with LIBRA began with KIP. A pilot-scale fraud that, months later, was repeated with political help and hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in misplaced investor cash,” Romeo stated in a social media publish, including, “Everything is documented. It all began on the Tech Forum on the Libertador Hotel.”
Other attention-grabbing particulars concerning Peh additionally emerged throughout Tuesday’s congressional session.
Evidence of Identity Fraud and Next Steps
Ferraro and different committee members refloated the earlier discovery that KIP Protocol founder Julian Peh operated below a false identification.
They confirmed that his actual identify is Peh Chnyi Haur, a Singaporean citizen who used the alias to attend October’s Tech Forum. Under this identify, Peh also met privately with Milei, participated in official conferences, circulated supposed authorities agreements, and signed paperwork.
When the courts sought data from Interpol Singapore, they discovered no data below his alias.
Ferraro additionally unveiled the subsequent steps that the congressional committee will take to analyze. Soliciting additional data from totally different platforms was among the many high priorities.
“The Commission has requested Gate.io to determine the proprietor of one of many receiving accounts, which moved 120,000 USDT within the early morning when the $LIBRA rip-off was executed,” the press launch learn.
He added that congressional summonses for Novelli’s members of the family can be reissued in reference to safety footage exhibiting Novelli, his mom, and sister dealing with security deposit bins earlier than and after the token’s launch.
Ferraro additionally pledged to submit all proof collected by the congressional fee to the courtroom dealing with the parallel prison investigation.
The publish How Argentina’s President Milei Helped Another Scam Token Before LIBRA appeared first on BeInCrypto.