Colombia’s president reportedly received $500,000 in illegal cryptocurrency donations for his 2022 campaign.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro reportedly received more than $500,000 worth of digital tokens from a fraudulent cryptocurrency project to finance his 2022 election, according to local media reports.

Colombia-based cryptocurrency project Daily COP illegally donated 2 billion Colombian pesos, or about $514,036 worth of cryptocurrency, to Petro’s 2022 campaign, Omar Hernández, a former contractor on the token project, told Caracol Radio on Wednesday. The donation was discussed at a meeting between Daily COP co-founder Sebastián Betancourt and Petro’s then-campaign manager Ricardo Roa at a Bogotá bakery in February 2022. Here, the parties also discussed “the advantages of cryptocurrencies as an alternative to the traditional banking system,” said Hernández, who also claims to have attended the meeting.

“Regulatory issues and the adoption of (blockchain) technology were discussed,” Hernández said in an interview with Caracol Radio, noting that the meeting aims to form some kind of “joint venture (or) alliance with the government.”

The cryptocurrency-focused illegal donation claims are the latest development in a series of campaign-related allegations that Petro has faced during his brief presidency. Last year, Colombia’s attorney general’s office launched an investigation into alleged illegal financing of Petro’s 2022 campaign, Reuters reported.

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