A lawyer in Argentina has asked Interpol to issue a “Red Notice” for the arrest of Hayden Mark Davis, a U.S. citizen who designed $LIBRA memecoin. Argentina wants Davis really bad. Argentine president Javier Milei promoted the coin alongside Davis. It crashed and people lost a lot of money. Now Milei is facing possible impeachment, and Davis is facing possible extradition.
Gregorio Dalbón filed the request with Interpol this week and argued that Davis posed a unique flight risk. According to Dalbón, the 28-year-old crypto entrepreneur has the money and the inclination to flee justice. “The possibility that Davis will abandon his country of residence or hide to avoid answering for his alleged acts appears to be aggravated by the economic resources he possesses, which he can use to move or remain in hiding, hindering our investigation,” Dalbón said in court documents reviewed by Fortune.
A Red Notice is like an international arrest warrant. If granted, it would mean that authorities in the U.S. could arrest Davis and ship him to Argentina.
Davis created the $LIBRA memecoin and got Milei to promote it on Valentine’s Day. Its value skyrocketed to a market cap of $4.5 billion before crashing hard to $18 million. More than 10,000 people lost around $250 million. Davis, of course, sold just before the crash and said he pocketed $100 million.
$LIBRA wasn’t Davis’s first pump and dump meme coin scheme. In January, following the launch of President Donald Trump’s $TRUMP memecoin, Davis launched $MELANIA. Confusion abounded. Investors thought that First Lady Melania Trump had launched her own memecoin similar to her husband’s. But it was just Davis doing his thing. Like $LIBRA, $MELANIA soared and then crashed.
Davis and Milei weren’t secret about their relationship. The President of Argentina posted photos of himself posing with Davis on X, and the crypto-pumper talked about their relationship on podcasts. A report from CoinDesk claimed that Davis bragged about dog-walking Milei.
“I control that n—,” Davis allegedly said in a text viewed by CoinDesk. “I send $$ to his sister and he signs whatever I say and does what I want.”
Davis’ bad behavior is legendary in the crypto community. On February 17, days after Milie promoted the coin, entrepreneur Steven Enamakel shared a story on X about Davis sticking him with a $2,000 sushi bill.
According to Enamakel, Davis invited him to Nobu in Los Angeles to discuss the pending launch of an NFT collection. “Hayden ordered almost everything that was super expensive in the menu,” Enamakel said on X. “When the food came, I never saw a person eat so much sushi so quickly. I wondered if it was humanly possible to consume that much sushi but there it happened right there in front of me.”
When the bill came, David hid in the bathroom. Enamakel waited for 20 minutes for him to return but ended up paying the bill himself because it was getting late and he needed to leave. The moment he paid, Davis returned and said the next meal was on him. “After that he then went ahead [and] screwed up my NTF launch,” Enamakel said. “I should have known better.”
The Argentine investigation into $LIBRA started a few days after Milei promoted it online. The probe is investigating whether Milei and Davis conspired to commit fraud. Possible charges for Davis could include bribery and influence peddling.
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