One of the most valued skills in a trader is the ability to identify an undervalued asset with the potential to appreciate. At least in that respect, Mauricio Novelli deserves the award he boasts on his company’s website: Champion of the Americas in the 2024 World Trading Championship. Novelli approached Javier Milei during the Covid pandemic and offered him a helping hand when the libertarian economist was going through a rough patch. He had lost his job and, according to his own account, had to choose between buying quality food for his dog Conan, or eating well himself. Novelli, now 30, contacted him via Instagram to propose offering online courses through his own fledgling firm, N&W Professional Traders. Milei, who had decided to live on pizza, began receiving a monthly fee in both pesos and dollars, according to records from Novelli’s cellphone, which came under investigation following the $Libra cryptocurrency scandal.
When Milei became president, the relationship of trust between the two was already established. “For Novelli, it was like winning the lottery. He had access to Milei and his sister Karina, whom he called ‘Javi’ and ‘Kari,’ and he became the key to power,” says Hugo Alconada Mon, the journalist leading the investigation into the $Libra case in Argentina. “Word began to spread that if you wanted to reach Milei and couldn’t do so through formal channels, the way to access him was through Novelli,” he continues. “And, in turn, Novelli began to capitalize on his role as a key player. He started making money.”
According to analyses conducted by La Nación on the material recovered from his electronic devices by experts from the Directorate of Technological Support for Criminal Investigations (Datip), Novelli acted as an intermediary with private businesspeople to secure approval for certain projects in the country, obtain tax exemptions, or even design regulatory frameworks. All of this was in exchange for millions of dollars in cryptocurrency payments. He also attempted to monetize Milei’s image as a brand. A draft agreement with the firm ICV Advisors projected the production of t-shirts, hats, and energy drinks linked to the head of state, and even a commemorative gold coin inscribed with “Long Live Freedom, Damn It!”
While it remains to be proven that Novelli’s efforts were actually validated by the Argentine president, there are indications that show a certain symmetry between the leaked conversations and concrete actions. For example, the president appointed Hayden Davies as a crypto advisor and posted a selfie with him on social media, just as Novelli had agreed with the American.
Novelli’s vast portfolio of projects began to unravel on February 14, 2025, the day the president posted a message on his official Twitter account promoting the cryptocurrency $Libra. The currency then experienced a dramatic surge in value before plummeting, leaving a trail of casualties and a few big winners with access to privileged information. As a result of the ensuing judicial investigation, experts found on Novelli’s phone an alleged agreement for $5 million in exchange for Milei’s support of the project, as well as dozens of calls between them on the day of the cryptocurrency’s launch. Milei, before becoming president, had already offered his support to two other cryptocurrencies in which Novelli was involved, according to the investigations conducted by the commission established in the Chamber of Deputies to look into the scandal.
Days before the presidential promotion of $Libra, Mauricio Novelli was salivating over the money he expected to receive. His phone records show that on January 29, 2025, inside the Government House where he had arrived for meetings, he inquired about a BMW 240 model car that he wanted to pay for “in cash” to avoid the tax authorities. Rolex watches, land in exclusive neighborhoods, properties. According to documents published in La Nación, this unbridled spending spree lasted several days, during which Novelli also sought to reserve tables at nightclubs and hire 12 prostitutes to celebrate the “deal” he had in hand. “I plan to spend,” he announced.
For much of the crypto ecosystem, Novelli was, until then, a complete unknown. “People who sell ‘trading academies’ aren’t perceived as serious by those of us who are more involved in software development,” explains Santiago Siri, an Argentine expert in technology and cryptocurrencies. Similarly, the Tech Forum event he organized in November 2024 with Manuel Terrones Godoy, in which the president participated and attended private meetings arranged by Novelli for a fee, wasn’t recognized as an industry event.
According to information published on his LinkedIn profile, Novelli studied marketing at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE) between 2014 and 2018, and earned a master’s degree in marketing research from Bocconi University in Italy. Between 2015 and 2019, he worked at Banco Galicia and BBVA. He then ventured into entrepreneurship and, together with his partner Jeremías José Walsh, founded N&W Professional Traders, an institute dedicated to training users to trade on the U.S. stock market and cryptocurrencies, according to its website, which remains active and features a photo of Javier Milei wearing the presidential sash in the “renowned professors” section. In fact, one of the major issues the courts must resolve is whether Milei continued to receive his monthly payment from the academy after becoming president, as is presumed based on leaked documents.
“Mauricio Novelli is one of the many opportunists who saw Javier Milei as a business opportunity. To that end, he first made it his mission to win over Karina, who was and still is the first point of contact with the man who is now the president of Argentina,” says Victoria De Masi, author of the biography Karina: The Sister. The Boss. The Sovereign. In fact, his frequent visits to the Casa Rosada were authorized by the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Karina’s office.
The journalist believes that Novelli’s figure reinforces the idea that the Milei siblings never abandon those who helped them. Even when cornered by the $Libra investigation, the president never referred to Novelli in negative terms. The reporter also believes that his background speaks not only of himself but of a generation: “Novelli, 30 years old, an entrepreneur who presents himself as a businessman, a crypto-broker who set up a virtual school in a studio apartment,” she describes him. “Novelli isn’t very different from many young men who make money in the virtual world. The materialization of that money is in the car, the Rolex, the office they rent, the tables they pay for at clubs or restaurants. They end up being financial operators who connect people of power with real power, and who are very much outside the traditional labor system,” she points out.
Although all the information from Novelli’s phone is part of the case being handled by prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, in over a year of investigation, those involved have not even been called to testify yet. The evidence only became public thanks to local journalists who gained access to the forensic materials. In this context, Novelli requested on Thursday the “absolute nullity” of the forensic examination of his devices, alleging unauthorized access, unjustified viewing, and irregular copying of his documents. Taiano, however, had already clarified in a statement that the forensic report had been submitted to the prosecutor’s office and made available to the parties before the documentation was made public, thus assuring that the investigation was continuing unabated.
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