Three months of property scandal, a judicial case that was advancing without brakes and a cabinet that no longer supported him. Manuel Adorni presented his resignation this Saturday in Olivos, after a week in which even Milei anticipated the end from Madrid. Diego Santilli appears as the most likely successor, but the question that no one quite answers is how the «caste» government ended up protecting for months an official investigated for illicit enrichment.
Manuel Adorni resigned this Saturday from the Chief of Staff, in an outcome that within the ruling party itself had been considered inevitable for weeks. The communication came through his X account, where he published a three-page letter along with the message «Thank you for your trust President. It has been a true honor. End». The official text thus closes three months of sustained political exhaustion, a judicial case that escalated without pause and a government that was running out of arguments to support it.
In the letter, Adorni chose a tone that mixes personal farewell with political disclaimer. He noted that the main reason for his departure is to preserve his family and those around him: «I cannot continue exposing a large part of the people I love to this media carnage,» he wrote. He listed a long list of accusations that he described as false: alleged non-existent trips, lavish expenses, irregular contracts, luxury properties, maneuvers linked to cryptocurrencies, nepotism, companies abroad and even the existence of an alleged pendrive with cash. He also highlighted that this is the first time, since the beginning of the administration, that he has made a decision contrary to Milei’s will: «For the first time since December 10, 2023, I am going against his wishes. Thank you for accepting my resignation this time,» he wrote. What the letter does not do is mention even once the judicial case that has Comodoro Py in his sights.
Adorni’s judicial situation was more serious than the file revealed. Federal prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita accumulated around 200 pages with financial movements that do not correspond to the income declared by the official, and was about to formalize a requirement for patrimonial justification, a preliminary step to an eventual summons for investigation before Judge Ariel Lijo. What Adorni could not explain was extensive: the purchase of an apartment in Caballito, a house in the Indio Cua country, expensive spare parts, private trips on luxury planes and credit card expenses. The sum of these movements in two years reaches almost 900 thousand dollars, while his sworn statement from 2025 recorded two properties and 42 thousand dollars, and that from 2026 already amounted to four properties and 944 million pesos.
The scandal had its most striking episode when it was revealed that Adorni had purchased, from his personal Mercado Libre account, a gaming monitor and two projectors for video games, using other people’s credit cards. The amount was relatively minor, but the political effect was devastating. «They are nonsense in amounts, but they hit the waterline,» acknowledged a man from the ruling party. «Every day is something new, it doesn’t matter to continue like this,» added another.
Prosecutor Pollicita is formally investigating him for alleged illicit enrichment, as a result of inconsistencies in his sworn statements, where he had omitted to declare half a million dollars illegally, added to confusing patrimonial justifications linked to the cryptocurrency movement. In parallel, the parliamentary front did not give in either: the opposition promoted its interpellation and the PRO, which until recently was part of the government’s support bloc, hardened its position and publicly asked for its departure.
«Our position was consistent from beginning to end. First we asked for explanations and, once known, we understood that Manuel Adorni cannot continue in office,» they expressed from the PRO in an official statement. The pressure from the yellow party was not limited to the public demand: Patricia Bullrich even suspended the management report that Adorni had to give in the Senate, admitting that «no one wants to recognize him as Chief of Staff and it makes no sense to expose him to eight hours of permanent beatings.»
Milei himself, before returning from Spain, had given a signal that was read in the offices as the closure of the internal file: he declared before El Observador that if Justice found Adorni guilty, he would kick him out «with a kick.» By then, the official had already been practically isolated for days, without a public agenda and reduced to administrative tasks.
The departure, as it turned out, was consensual. «This time it is Manuel himself who already recognizes that he is worn out,» the Government leaked. Diego Santilli, Minister of the Interior, appears as the candidate with the most weight to assume the Chief of Staff, with the approval of Karina Milei and Santiago Caputo. If that is confirmed, the Ministry of the Interior would pass into the hands of Ignacio Devitt, current Secretary of Strategic Affairs.
Adorni’s resignation exposes a tension that the libertarian government never fully resolved: the distance between the discourse of transparency and the real conduct of its officials. A former spokesperson who made public denunciation of the «corrupt caste» his main communication asset ends his time in the State under judicial investigation for illicit enrichment. If this constitutes a scandal, an exception or a pattern, it is something that Justice and Buenos Aires politics will continue to look closely at.
