Manuel Adorni, Argentina's Cabinet Chief, filed amended financial declarations late on Wednesday with the Anti-Corruption Office and the Revenue and Customs Control Agency, disclosing approximately $513,000 in Bitcoin investments in an effort to account for undeclared wealth. The amended filing comes as Adorni faces a judicial investigation for alleged illicit enrichment and conducting negotiations incompatible with his public office — charges being handled at the Comodoro Py federal courts in Buenos Aires by judge Ariel Lijo and prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita, who confirmed the cases will continue regardless of the updated declarations.
According to the account presented by the Cabinet Office, the cryptocurrency investments were made between 2013 and 2018 across eight digital wallets, with an initial outlay of around $200,000 that grew to $513,000 as Bitcoin's price rose. In a television interview, Adorni acknowledged that he and his wife, Bettina Angeletti, had kept the savings off the books. "We saved in the shadows, like all Argentines," he said — a comment that resonated in a country with a long history of distrust toward the banking system, shaped by successive financial crises and chronic inflation. He admitted to having considered resigning and conceded he had made an error, pledging to pay all outstanding taxes, fines, and interest.
The amended filing also incorporates assets inherited following the death of Adorni's father in 2022, including the sale of properties in La Plata and Daireaux that together yielded around $79,000. It additionally clarifies real-estate transactions from 2025 that originally triggered the judicial review, including a home in the Indio Cuá gated community — previously declared solely in Angeletti's name — now listed jointly, and an apartment in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Caballito purchased with a personal friend who is also cited in the case. Investigators had estimated renovation costs on the properties at around $245,000; Adorni's account puts them at roughly $170,000.
The disclosure represents a significant reversal for Adorni, who told Argentina's Congress as recently as April 29 that there had been "never any concealment" of his assets. President Javier Milei had anticipated the filing and has continued to publicly back his cabinet chief, insisting he is confident everything is in order. The broader controversy began in March after reports emerged of an official trip to New York that Adorni took with his wife and subsequent private jet holidays with his family.
The political fallout has not been contained by the updated declarations. Vice President Victoria Villarruel broke openly with the government's line, stating she does not believe Adorni. "I find his conduct a disgrace," she said — a rare public rebuke from within the administration that underscores the damage the case is inflicting on Milei's inner circle. The amended filing also triggers a review of Adorni's tax declarations over the past five years, with any resulting obligations to be regularised.