President Javier Milei faced an angry crowd of protesters on Wednesday while campaigning in Lomas de Zamora, a suburb of Buenos Aires and a traditional Peronist stronghold. Stones, bottles, and plants were reportedly thrown at the president amid growing public outrage over a corruption scandal implicating Milei and his sister, Karina, in an alleged embezzlement scheme.
The scandal erupted following the release of a series of audio recordings by the Argentine press, allegedly featuring Diego Spagnuolo, former director of the National Disability Agency (Andis), discussing bribes paid by a pharmaceutical company to officials in Milei’s administration. Spagnuolo, who later joined the president’s legal team, appears to implicate Karina Milei—nicknamed “the boss” by her brother—as receiving 3% of state payments to purchase medicines from the private healthcare group Suizo Argentina.
While the recordings suggest that key members of Milei’s administration were aware of the alleged kickbacks, the president himself denied any wrongdoing. Shortly before the protest in Lomas de Zamora, Milei told reporters, “Everything [Spagnuolo] says is a lie … We are going to bring him to justice and prove he lied.”
The audio also reportedly implicates Eduardo “Lule” Menem, Karina Milei’s undersecretary and cousin of the current president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem, as central to the alleged corruption.
Following the recordings’ release on August 20, a formal complaint was filed against President Milei, Karina Milei, Menem, Spagnuolo, and Suizo Argentina owner Eduardo Kovalivker. Prosecutors have ordered at least 15 searches, seizing $266,000 and 7 million Argentine pesos from Kovalivker, as well as mobile phones belonging to Spagnuolo and the Kovalivkers for further investigation. No communications between the Mileis and Spagnuolo were found on the former’s devices.
In response to the scandal, Spagnuolo was removed from his position as one of the president’s lawyers “as a preventative measure,” and the Argentine presidency placed Andis under its direct jurisdiction for 180 days. Karina Milei has not publicly commented on the allegations.
This is the second major controversy to hit Milei since his election in 2023. Earlier this year, Milei promoted the $LIBRA cryptocurrency on social media, which surged in value before plummeting 90% in two hours—a move industry experts called a “rug pull.”
The corruption allegations come amid ongoing tensions over Argentina’s disability benefits system and recent clashes between the executive branch and Congress, including Milei’s veto of laws intended to support the elderly and disabled.
The president now faces his first electoral test since taking office, with midterm elections scheduled for October 26 to fill roughly half the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and one-third of Senate seats. Analysts say the vote will serve as a key barometer of public opinion toward Milei’s economic and social policies, including his sharp public spending cuts that have contributed to Argentina’s ongoing recession.
