Milei’s Cabinet chief resigns months after private jet scandal

President Javier Milei’s cabinet chief resigned Saturday after struggling for months to defuse corruption allegations, becoming the most high-profile departure since the libertarian leader took office.

Manuel Adorni, one of Milei’s most loyal lieutenants, stepped aside amid an ongoing investigation into real-estate purchases and luxury travel on a private jet despite earning a government salary.

After two months of denying any wrongdoing, he told a local television interviewer earlier this month that he actually hid US$500,000 from Argentina’s tax agency and made most of his riches on an all-in Bitcoin bet over a decade ago. A TV pundit and university professor, Adorni previously served as Milei’s chief spokesman before leading the Cabinet and had publicly railed against other politicians convicted on corruption charges.

“I have been branded a criminal and corrupt, without a single act of corruption to my name,” Adorni said in a post on X Saturday afternoon. “There is a limit to this relentless persecution, and I have reached mine.”

It remains unclear who will replace him.

Adorni’s resignation marks a sharp reversal in the government’s strategy after Milei himself repeatedly brushed off the scandals, deriding them as attacks orchestrated by the opposition and local media. In April, Milei and his Cabinet turned an Adorni appearance before Congress into a media spectacle and a rare show of support, cheering from the chamber’s balcony as Adorni ruled out stepping down and insisted he would prove his innocence in court.

Amid the scandal, Milei’s approval rating fell to below 36 percent in April, down nearly 10 points from the start of the year, according to LatAm Pulse, a poll conducted by AtlasIntel for Bloomberg News. It has since recovered to around 40 percent. The survey’s respondents rated corruption as their top concern, with more than half saying they expect more revelations to come to light in the next six months.

The investigation into Adorni began in March after photos surfaced of his wife, who is not in government, travelling aboard the presidential jet to New York, the sort of excess for which Milei’s former spokesman regularly skewered the opposition. After that, video surfaced of Adorni and his family flying by private jet to Uruguay’s posh Punta del Este beach resort.

Local media also reported two real-estate purchases Adorni made since Milei took office and an all-cash trip to a luxury resort in Aruba. The acquisitions, an apartment and a weekend home outside Buenos Aires, were both financed by private individuals. In May 4, the construction contractor for the house testified in a hearing that Adorni paid him US$245,000 in cash for renovations, including a fountain and a pool.

For months, and even before Congress, Adorni insisted he had done nothing wrong, only to later acknowledge that he had actually evaded tax authorities for years and lied about it on his financial disclosure statements. He claimed he made US$300,000 by investing in Bitcoin as early as 2013 even though he once said he didn’t understand cryptocurrencies in a resurfaced 2020 video.

Adorni’s resignation marks a political loss for Karina Milei, the president’s influential sister and gatekeeper, who fostered a close relationship with him. Adorni was promoted to Cabinet chief after Karina’s campaign strategy in last October’s midterm election delivered a resounding victory. Conservative former president Mauricio Macri, whose party has supported much of Milei’s agenda, had criticised the decision to appoint Adorni, a former columnist who had no prior political experience.

Last year, Adorni won a Buenos Aires City council race, but never took office, opting instead to stay in Milei’s government. Speculation swirled that he might run for mayor of the capital next year. From the earliest days of Milei’s term, Adorni became the public face of the president’s anti-corruption and austerity push, holding dozens of press conferences outlining efforts to eradicate kickbacks and excesses across government.

In late 2024, he even touted the dismissal of an official over the purchase of a coffee machine.

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by Manuela Tobias, Bloomberg