Federal Judge Marcelo Martínez De Giorgi today rejected the detention of two of the individuals investigated in the case concerning the launch of the cryptocurrency $LIBRA, Mauricio Novelli and Manuel Terrones Godoy. Additionally, he denied the Investigative Commission of the Chamber of Deputies 'unrestricted' access to the file, a measure to which the prosecution also objected.
Regarding the request from the Commission, chaired by Deputy Maximiliano Ferraro, the magistrate ruled that it lacks the legitimacy to access the file, in line with the opinion of the prosecutor in the case, Eduardo Taiano, who has been delegated the investigation, according to the resolution seen by the Argentine News Agency.
The case also investigates President Javier Milei, who last February promoted the launch of the cryptoasset on his X social media account, which caused its value to rise before plummeting abruptly.
Article 204 of the National Procedural Criminal Code establishes that the judicial proceeding 'will be public for the parties and their defenders' and 'always secret for strangers.'
Both the judge and the prosecutor argued that unrestrictedly disclosing the information to the members of the legislative commission 'could frustrate or obstruct the success of the investigation.' They also emphasized that there are evidence-gathering measures still underway that must remain confidential.
Martínez De Giorgi asked the prosecutor for an opinion on another, more limited request for access, related to specific documentation and evidence, which he must resolve.
In the same ruling, the judge rejected the request of the complainant Martín Romeo to order the detention of Novelli and Terrones Godoy.
According to the complainant, both presented a 'flight risk' because they hold foreign passports, and in Terrones' case, permanent residency in Mexico. He also alleged that they had attempted to obstruct the investigation by emptying safe deposit boxes and deleting computer files.
'No procedural risks of obstruction or flight danger are observed,' and both are under legal restraint with active precautionary measures such as the freezing of their assets, which would be 'sufficient to neutralize the existing risks.' Having 'dual nationality or a foreign passport cannot, in itself, be interpreted as a sufficient indication of a flight risk,' the judge concluded.
