The Argentine congressional commission investigating President Javier Milei revealed evidence showing that two months before the LIBRA scandal, Milei had already participated in a nearly identical scheme.
The same promoters who collaborated with Milei on LIBRA in February were also involved in the earlier KIP launch.
Earlier Scheme Surfaces
The latest phase of the LIBRA investigation uncovered Milei’s prior involvement in another token launch that was connected to figures already under scrutiny by Argentine authorities.
SponsoredAt Tuesday’s congressional session in Buenos Aires, Maximiliano Ferraro, the leader 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 both operations.
The commission also confirmed that data from centralized exchanges revealed a direct money trail linking the same individuals to the earlier KIP launch.
“The investigation identified a wallet on the Gate.io exchange, belonging to Terrones Godoy, from which 59,992 USDT were transferred to a Novelli account, previously linked to the $LIBRA scam. That same night, December 10, 2024, [Terrones] Godoy made additional transfers from that account totaling more than 92,000 USDT,” the press release first accessed by BeInCrypto read.
Ferraro also spotlighted the extensive ties that Novelli, Terrones Godoy, Peh, and Milei have maintained over the past year.
Connections Traced Back to the Tech Forum
Last October, the Buenos Aires city government sponsored the Argentina Tech Forum. During this event, Peh and Milei gave individual conferences before public officials and advisors close to the President.
There, Peh was able to establish contact with Milei and his sister Karina Milei.
Sponsored SponsoredThis institutional support gave Peh’s KIP Protocol the credibility it needed to launch the KIP token in December. The token debuted under a contract with Gate.io and was subsequently listed on KuCoin and MEXC.
The operation followed the same pump-and-dump model later seen with LIBRA. They launched a token with no real utility, leveraging political momentum to drive up its value and then cashing out at the peak to secure massive profits.
According to the information provided by the platform, investigators detected that Terrones Godoy and Novelli both bought KIP tokens before the price surge. They then sold them to generate 600,000 dollars in a single day.
Ferraro also confirmed the movement of money between Novelli and Terrones Godoy, happening at the same time.
“Terrones Godoy’s wallet received (without paying for them) 6,750,000 KIP tokens and immediately began selling them. Hours after initiating the liquidation, Terrones Godoy posted a tweet promoting KIP. In total, the account executed over 400 transactions and withdrew over 152,700 USDT in just 15 minutes that night, funds that include the money sent to Novelli,” the commission’s press release read.
Milei also used the KIP launch as a testing ground, setting the stage for what would later unfold in a strikingly similar way with the LIBRA launch in February.
SponsoredKIP Pilot as Test for LIBRA Launch
Two days before the KIP launch, Milei shared a post from Peh on social media announcing that KIP Protocol had decided to invest in Argentina.
Martín Romeo, the plaintiff in the criminal case against Milei, claimed that the operation acted as a test to gauge how presidential endorsement could influence the price of a meme coin.
The result was immediate. When KIP launched, its price skyrocketed, and Novelli and Terrones Godoy sold their KIP holdings.
“Everything we see today with LIBRA started with KIP. A pilot-scale fraud that, months later, was repeated with political support and millions of dollars in lost investor money,” Romeo said in a social media post, adding, “Everything is documented. It all started at the Tech Forum at the Libertador Hotel.”
Other interesting details regarding Peh also emerged during Tuesday’s congressional session.
Sponsored SponsoredEvidence of Identity Fraud and Next Steps
Ferraro and other committee members refloated the previous discovery that KIP Protocol founder Julian Peh operated under a false identity.
They confirmed that his real name is Peh Chnyi Haur, a Singaporean citizen who used the alias to attend October’s Tech Forum. Under this name, Peh also met privately with Milei, participated in official meetings, circulated supposed government agreements, and signed documents.
When the courts sought information from Interpol Singapore, they found no records under his alias.
Ferraro also unveiled the next steps that the congressional committee will take to investigate. Soliciting further information from different platforms was among the top priorities.
“The Commission has requested Gate.io to identify the owner of one of the receiving accounts, which moved 120,000 USDT in the early morning when the $LIBRA scam was executed,” the press release read.
He added that congressional summonses for Novelli’s family members would be reissued in connection with security footage showing Novelli, his mother, and sister handling safety deposit boxes before and after the token’s launch.
Ferraro also pledged to submit all evidence collected by the congressional commission to the court handling the parallel criminal investigation.
