Adorni Wealth Probe: Argentina’s Ex-Cabinet Chief Must Now Account for Income Since 1998
ARGENTINA · JUSTICE
Key Facts
- —The country Argentina is South America’s second-largest economy, governed since December 2023 by President Javier Milei, who campaigned against political privilege and graft.
- —What happened On Monday 28 September federal judge Ariel Lijo approved a prosecutor’s request to reconstruct Manuel Adorni’s finances back to 1998, La Nación and Infobae reported.
- —Who is involved Adorni, Milei’s former cabinet chief, resigned on 27 June. His wife, Bettina Angeletti, is included from October 2000. Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita leads the illicit-enrichment case.
- —What it means for you The case measures how far Milei’s anti-graft promise holds inside his own team. A cryptographic test could also settle part of Adorni’s defence quickly.
- —Still open No date has been set for the bitcoin test, and no indictment has been reported as of 29 September.
The Adorni wealth probe in Argentina now reaches back to 1998. A federal judge on Monday let prosecutors trace the former cabinet chief’s income from the day he turned 18.
Judge Ariel Lijo also authorised a test of eight bitcoin addresses that Manuel Adorni says explain his cash, Infobae reported. He is under investigation for illicit enrichment, an offence covering wealth an official cannot justify.
What the prosecutor asked for
Federal prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita filed the requests after Adorni answered a 20-point questionnaire on his assets, TN reported. The defence said savings built from both spouses’ work funded bitcoin purchases from 2014.
To test that claim, Pollicita wants their finances rebuilt from adulthood, elDiarioAR reported. Until now the Adorni wealth probe covered the period from January 2012, according to La Nación.
The tax agency, ARCA, must hand over income and wealth tax returns from 1998 to 2011, Infobae reported. It must also list their dollar purchases between 2011 and 2015, when currency controls applied.
The social security agency, ANSES, must supply full employment records. Property, vehicle and company registries must list anything held in their names, La Nación and TN reported.
The bitcoin test
The defence says Adorni used eight bitcoin addresses between October 2014 and September 2018. It says selling those holdings produced US$591,544.61, TN and Infobae reported.
Adorni cites that sum to explain US$565,000 in cash he declared as a “sale of assets”. The private keys sit in a sealed envelope held by his lawyer, Matías Ledesma.
Under the approved procedure, a defence expert will sign a prosecution message from each address. Federal Police technicians will then verify every signature, and the session will be recorded, Infobae reported.
The keys stay with the defence throughout. A valid signature would show control of the addresses; it would not by itself date the sales.
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How the case got here
The investigation began after Adorni’s wife flew on the presidential plane to New York in March, La Nación reported. Questions about property purchases and trips followed.
In June he filed corrected declarations for 2023 and 2024 adding about US$513,000, the paper reported. He resigned as cabinet chief on 27 June, as covered in Milei Cabinet Chief Adorni Resigns as Corruption Scandal Peaks.
Prosecution experts found a gap of over 43 million pesos (about US$28,000 at 1,524 pesos to the dollar on 29 September), La Nación reported. It lies between declared income and family spending, and US$402,000 in property also needs justifying.
Adorni maintains that his wealth is justified, and his defence itself offered the wallet evidence. His earlier admission of undeclared savings was covered in A Third Scandal Hits Milei, the Reformer Who Ran Against Graft.
What Is Not Yet Known
No date has been fixed for the signature test, which must be agreed with the defence. It is not known what the 1998–2011 tax records will show.
No indictment has been reported. The 43-million-peso gap and the US$402,000 property figure come from La Nación and have not been independently confirmed.
Sources: La Nación, 29 September 2026; Infobae, 28 September 2026; TN, 28 September 2026; elDiarioAR, 28 September 2026; exchange rate: open.er-api.com, 29 September 2026.
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