Manuel Adorni, the longtime spokesman and current Cabinet chief to Argentine President Javier Milei, resigned Saturday over a federal illicit-enrichment investigation, severing the libertarian government from the aide who has been at Milei's side since he took office on Dec. 10, 2023.
The departure costs Milei his most experienced congressional negotiator less than four months before October midterm elections that will decide whether his La Libertad Avanza party retains the leverage it has used to push tax, deregulation and currency-reform bills through a chamber where it holds only a small bloc. It also punctures the anti-corruption pledge that built the political identity of a president who came to power vowing to eradicate graft in Argentina's elite.
What prosecutors are examining
Federal prosecutors are investigating Adorni for illicit enrichment after Argentine media documented two property purchases since Milei took office — a Buenos Aires apartment and a weekend house outside the city — along with a private-jet trip to Uruguay's Punta del Este resort and a cash-only vacation in Aruba. Adorni's public financial disclosures put his government salary at about $2,600 a month until late last year.
The scrutiny began in March, when reporters revealed that Adorni's wife, who holds no government role, had accompanied him on the presidential aircraft for an engagement in New York. Earlier this month, Adorni acknowledged in a televised interview that he had bought U.S. dollars on Argentina's parallel "blue" currency market and held about $500,000 outside the formal banking system — practices that are technically illegal but widespread in inflation-ravaged Argentina and rarely prosecuted. He has insisted the money came from legitimate sources, including cryptocurrency investments, and denies any crime.
Milei's defense
Milei defended Adorni publicly until Saturday. "Manuel is innocent," the president told local media during a visit to Spain last week, adding that he would "stand by my ministers to the bitter end." His sister and top adviser, Karina Milei, called Adorni "upright, valuable and much-loved" and thanked him for his "tireless work."
"For the first time since December 10, 2023, I am going against your wishes," Adorni wrote in the resignation letter he posted to social media, thanking Milei for "supporting me through this unjust, painful and exhausting process for me and my family." Milei accepted the resignation within hours. Neither Adorni nor the president's office named a successor.
Market and political reaction
Argentina's sovereign dollar bonds were little changed in thin Saturday trading, Reuters reported. Analysts cited by Deutsche Welle said the resignation could blunt political damage going into October but removes the government's most experienced hand in Congress, where Milei has relied on horse-trading to assemble majorities.
No opposition Peronist figure was directly quoted in Saturday's wire reports, though Deutsche Welle noted the Peronist bloc had previously called for impeachment hearings. The criminal case against Adorni remains unresolved; he has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.
Milei's office said an announcement on a new Cabinet chief would come in the coming days.