MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's Adorni declares $513,000 in Bitcoin to explain his wealth amid an enrichment case

According to the reconstruction presented by the Cabinet Office, the cryptocurrency investments were made between 2013 and 2018 through eight virtual wallets

Argentina's Cabinet Chief, Manuel Adorni, filed a series of rectified sworn declarations on Wednesday night before the Anti-Corruption Office and the Revenue and Customs Control Agency (ARCA) that substantially modify his assets and those of his wife, Bettina Angeletti. The main new element is the inclusion of about $513,000 attributed to Bitcoin investments, in a filing that comes as he faces a judicial investigation for alleged illicit enrichment.

The cases —for alleged illicit enrichment and negotiations incompatible with public office— are being handled at the Comodoro Py federal courts by judge Ariel Lijo and prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita, and will continue despite the amended filing. The documentation, anticipated by President Javier Milei and delayed for more than a month, reconstructs the family's economic evolution since 2020. Hours earlier, Adorni had joined a simplified tax-regularization regime.

According to the reconstruction presented by the Cabinet Office, the cryptocurrency investments were made between 2013 and 2018 through eight virtual wallets. The initial capital was said to be around $200,000 and, with the rise in prices, would have grown into the $513,000 now being declared; the operations, that account holds, can be verified through the wallets' access “keys.” In a television interview, Adorni admitted that he and his wife had kept undeclared savings —“we saved off the books, like all Argentines,” he said— and stated that he had even considered resigning. His circle maintains that all of the couple's assets predate his entry into public office.

Adorni took office as Secretary of Communication and Media on December 14, 2023, and was appointed Cabinet Chief in November 2025. Angeletti, according to his circle, works as a small taxpayer and held managerial posts for more than fifteen years at a private company.

The amended filing also incorporates assets inherited after the death of the official's father in 2022: the sale of a property in La Plata brought him about $57,000 and that of a plot in Daireaux another $22,000, some $79,000 in total. It also clarifies the real-estate operations carried out in 2025, which triggered the judicial review. The home in the Indio Cuá gated community, until now declared only in Angeletti's name, now appears as belonging equally to both spouses; its purchase required about $120,000 financed with two mortgages on a family property. On the renovations, while the judicial investigation worked with an estimate of about $245,000, the official's account puts them at around $170,000.

The other property, an apartment in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Caballito, was acquired through an arrangement with Pablo Feijoó, described as a personal friend of the official and cited in the case. According to the official explanation, Adorni paid only a $30,000 deposit and the rest relied on financing and mortgages of about $100,000; the renovations came to around $65,000. Regarding reports of alleged additional payments, the Cabinet Office maintained that there was no transaction beyond what was documented.

The review also covers tax filings from the last five years, so Adorni will regularize any tax obligations that arise. The aim, according to official sources, was to consolidate the family's asset evolution into a single filing and to certify the lawful origin of the funds. The amended filing, however, did not end the political controversy: Vice President Victoria Villarruel said she does not believe the official. “I find his conduct a disgrace,” she said.