Secret audios, dramatic leaks, spying claims: A bribery scandal engulfs Argentina’s Milei

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentines are so used to the corruption in their political system that even Peronists — supporters of the populist movement that dominated Argentina’s politics for decades — employ a fatalistic maxim to describe their politicians: “Roban, pero hacen,” or, “They steal, but they get it done.”

But for the past two weeks, Argentines have been riveted by a ballooning graft scandal drawing in close associates of libertarian President Javier Milei, the wild-haired economist who won Argentina’s 2023 election in part by campaigning as an outsider against the corrupt, Peronist-dominated elite — “the caste,” he calls it — whose unbridled spending helped precipitate Argentina’s economic crisis.

At a time of extreme fiscal austerity, the allegations that his powerful s