The political rise of economist Javier Milei to the presidency was largely driven by Argentinians' hope that he could revive the debt-laden country's economic fortunes. But now the libertarian's key credentials as an economic expert have suffered a massive blow as lawyers have filed a fraud lawsuit against him in an Argentine court.

What's come to be known as the "cryptogate" scandal is gripping Argentina, with the rapid rise and collapse of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency at the center of controversy.

Investors — most of them reportedly from Argentina and the United States — had poured the equivalent of $100 million (€95.3 million) into short-term investments in the cryptocurrency and lost most of their money.

Milei endorsed $LIBRA, which is a meme coin, in a social media post on February 14. During the time the tweet remained pinned to Milei's account, $LIBRA quickly rose in value from $0.000001 to $5.20.

But after Milei withdrew his support, following allegations the coin was a rug pull scam [a scam where investors withdraw all their funds from a project and abandon it — the ed.], its price dropped to $0.99 within hours. At its peak, the $LIBRA market........

© Deutsche Welle