Top Milei aide admits to hiding money from tax authorities

BUENOS AIRES: Argentine President Javier Milei’s scandal-hit chief of staff Manuel Adorni admitted Wednesday evening that he hid US$500,000 in savings from tax authorities.

Adorni told LN+ channel in an interview that for years, as Argentina suffered chronically high inflation, he and his wife had saved “under the table, like all Argentines”.

“We didn’t declare it because, at the time, the only way to escape old-style politics was to have undeclared savings,” he said, referring to the tax-and-spend policies of previous left-wing governments which were widely blamed for fueling inflation.

Over years of spiraling prices, Argentines traded their battered local pesos for dollars, which they often hoarded at home, in cash.

“It would never have occurred to me to have ‘official’ savings at the time,” Adorni said.

Adorni is embroiled in a scandal over his big-spending lifestyle, including lavish family holidays and undeclared property purchases for amounts far exceeding his official earnings.

He told LN+ he had “made a mistake” in failing to declare all his assets.

“I will pay every last tax I owe, every last fine, all the interest, everything that accrues from this error,” he stated.

Adorni says he earned his money from private business activities and cryptocurrency investments before he became presidential spokesman in December 2023.

He was promoted to chief of staff in November 2025.

The firebrand Milei, who campaigned as an outsider fighting a corrupt left-wing “caste,” has maintained unwavering support for one of his most trusted aides.

His government has been dogged by a slew of corruption investigations, which have caused his approval ratings to fall.