The Real DEI: How Wealthy American Families Enable Their Fail-spring & Destroy Entire Economies

I. The Inheritance of Grift

The Davises are not a household name. They don’t run multinational corporations, they don’t hold elected office, and they don’t appear on any list of America’s wealthiest families. Yet, over the past few months, Tom Davis and his two sons, Hayden and Gideon, have succeeded in something that Fortune 500 executives can only dream of: they looted an entire country without any consequences for themselves.

At the center of the fiasco is $LIBRA, a cryptocurrency that saw an astronomical rise and fall after it was promoted by the sitting President of Argentina, Javier Milei. The Davises, through their Delaware-registered firm Kelsier Ventures, were deeply involved in the token’s launch and—according to blockchain analysts—managed to extract over $124 million from Argentine investors before the inevitable collapse ¹.

This is not the story of a brilliant, self-made financial mind engineering a billion-dollar success. It’s not even the story of an anti-heroic Wall Street firm skirting regulations for profit. This is the story of yet another American family where wealth and social connections have enabled a new generation of mediocrity, hubris, and fraud—one that leaves actual destruction in its wake.

The real DEI in America isn’t about diversity, equity, or inclusion. It’s Dynastic Economic Insulation, the protective bubble around the wealthy and their descendants, ensuring that even the most incompetent, unqualified, and corrupt fail-sons (and fail-daughters) land softly—often atop the ruins of someone else’s economy.

Argentina, it turns out, was just their latest victim.

II. A Family of Hustlers, but Not the Good Kind

To understand the Davis family grift, we have to start at the top.

Tom Davis, the patriarch, wears many hats: former restaurant chain owner, Christian author, self-proclaimed entrepreneur, and now a crypto financier. He previously co-owned 34 restaurants on the East Coast of the U.S., though oddly, none of them are ever named in available records—a red flag suggesting that they may have been little more than a convenient vehicle for cash flow ². But his real move into wealth-building came through Christian publishing, where he wrote books blending faith, self-help, and the kind of “prosperity gospel” rhetoric that appeals to conservative evangelicals ³.

The next generation of Davises took the family business in a more modern direction—cryptocurrency grifting.

• Hayden Davis, the eldest son, studied business at Liberty University, a conservative stronghold infamous for its deep ties to right-wing power brokers and its scandals under Jerry Falwell Jr. ⁴.
• Gideon Davis, the younger brother, followed Hayden into crypto finance but has kept a lower profile, appearing mostly as the COO of Kelsier Ventures ⁵.

Kelsier Ventures, the family-run “investment firm” that supposedly fuels Web3 innovation, is better described as a vehicle for market manipulation. Their first big con? The $MELANIA token, a cryptocurrency linked to Melania Trump, which pumped and dumped in eerily similar fashion to $LIBRA ⁶.

That was just a warm-up act.

III. Emily Chynoweth-Davis: The Cult Heiress Turned Crypto Insider

Emily Chynoweth-Davis was born into a family with direct ties to one of the most notorious religious cult leaders in modern history—Ervil LeBaron, the polygamist “Mormon Manson” who orchestrated multiple murders in the name of religious supremacy. Emily’s father, Mark Chynoweth, was a devoted follower of LeBaron’s sect, the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God, which operated as a violent, criminal offshoot of Mormon fundamentalism.

Mark was one of LeBaron’s top lieutenants until his assassination in 1988, a murder that was almost certainly ordered by LeBaron’s inner circle as part of an ongoing power struggle within the cult. Emily’s mother, Lillian LeBaron Chynoweth, later took her own life, leaving Emily and her siblings to navigate a world that was now tainted by their family’s dark legacy ⁷.

Emily’s ability to reinvent herself within evangelical business circles led to her family’s eventual deep ties to Liberty University, where her sons studied, and the broader right-wing business world, which connected them to figures like Melania Trump. Reports suggest that Emily was at one point part of a social circle that overlapped with Melania’s philanthropic and investment interests, which raises serious questions given the $MELANIA token was structured as a pump-and-dump scheme ⁸.

By the time the Davis family pulled off the LIBRA scam in Argentina, they had already mastered the art of weaponizing right-wing political sentiment to justify economic grifting.

IV. The LIBRA Scam: Grift on a National Scale

On February 14, 2025, President Javier Milei posted on social media promoting $LIBRA, sparking a frenzied surge in the token’s value. At its peak, the token’s market capitalization hit $4.24 billion before it collapsed by over 90% within days ⁹. The fallout was swift:

• 44,000 investors lost money as their savings evaporated overnight ¹⁰.
• Argentina’s stock market wobbled, with the S&P Merval Index initially dropping before rebounding amid economic uncertainty ¹¹.
• A federal investigation was launched into potential fraud, with allegations that the Davises and their associates had pre-planned their exit ¹².
• The money extracted from $LIBRA didn’t stay in Argentina—it was funneled into U.S. bank accounts, crypto wallets, and offshore holdings controlled by Kelsier Ventures ¹³.

What made this scam particularly damaging to Argentina’s already fragile economy was its massive capital outflow¹¹.

This is a modern form of economic colonialism, where wealthy Americans siphon money from developing nations through manufactured financial hype, then leave once the bubble bursts. But this was not just a “crypto” story. It was part of a broader pattern of how right-wing libertarian grifters use deregulation, techno-optimism, and outright scams to loot vulnerable economies.

V. What Happens Next?

The LIBRA scandal will have lasting effects on Argentina:

1. Capital Flight – Over $100 million in investor wealth has already exited the country¹².
2. Higher Inflation – Fewer dollars in circulation → peso devaluation accelerates → consumer prices rise¹³.
3. Weakened Foreign Investment – No serious investor wants to put money in a country whose president is entangled in financial scandals¹⁴.
4. IMF Negotiations Get Tougher – Argentina is seeking $44 billion in financial aid, but the LIBRA debacle makes the country seem riskier, likely leading to harsher austerity conditions¹⁵.
5. Political Chaos – Multiple criminal complaints and impeachment calls against Milei create instability, making future policy decisions even harder¹⁶.

The Davises, meanwhile, walk away clean. The grift cycle will continue.

VI. The Larger Pattern: The Fail-Son Economy

Hayden and Gideon Davis are not financial geniuses. They are not self-made men. They are the modern equivalent of aristocrats, born into enough wealth to take risks with other people’s money, fail, and still come out ahead.

This isn’t an anomaly. This is how our modern economy works for the wealthy.

• The Sacklers destroyed communities with opioids and walked away rich.
• The Trumps inherited real estate and turned it into a decades-long con job.
• The Musks, Bezoses, and Zuckerbergs were all born into privilege and simply had enough cushion to play entrepreneur.

It’s the same cycle: create hype, extract wealth, leave destruction behind, repeat.

Argentina’s economy will take years to recover from the LIBRA scam. The Davises, meanwhile, will move on to the next scheme, insulated by their wealth and connections.

This is the real DEI in America. Not diversity, equity, or inclusion. Dynastic Economic Insulation. The system is designed to protect wealthy fail-sons from their own incompetence while ensuring that the fallout always lands on the working class.

It’s not a bug. It’s the feature.

References

1. Reuters. “Politician-linked meme coins backfire after LIBRA scandal.” Reuters, February 21, 2025. Link
2. Chaincatcher. “The Man Behind Milei’s Memecoin Also Worked on Melania Trump’s Coin.” Chaincatcher, February 18, 2025. Link
3. Amazon. “Fields of the Fatherless: Discover the Joy of Compassionate Living.” Amazon Books, Published 2011. Link
4. Wikipedia. “Jerry Falwell Jr.” Wikipedia, Accessed February 2025. Link
5. Followin.io. “Kelsier Ventures: Web3 Investment or Just Another Scam?” Followin.io, January 2025. Link
6. TheStreet. “This 28-Year-Old Made $100M Launching a Token with Argentine President Javier Milei.” TheStreet, February 2025. Link
7. The Cinemaholic. “Emily and Lisa Chynoweth: The Daughters of the Cult.” The Cinemaholic, December 2024. Link
8. AP News. “Argentina’s Crypto Scandal Dings Milei, Involves Strange Mix of Characters.” AP News, February 17, 2025. Link
9. Buenos Aires Times. “Explainer: A Look at the Crypto Scandal Involving Milei and Argentina.” Buenos Aires Times, February 18, 2025. Link
10. El País. “Las Claves de $LIBRA, el ‘Criptogate’ Que Golpea a Javier Milei.” El País, February 18, 2025. Link
11. Reuters. “Foreign Investors Pull Out of Argentine Markets Following LIBRA Scandal.” Reuters, February 20, 2025. Link
12. Financial Times. “IMF Seeks Reassurance from Argentina After LIBRA Debacle.” Financial Times, February 22, 2025. Link
13. The Token Dispatch. “Hayden Davis: Architect of a Presidential Crypto Disaster.” The Token Dispatch, February 2025. Link
14. SolanaFloor. “Deep Dive: How Kelsier Ventures Profited $116M from LIBRA and MELANIA While Traders Lost Millions.” SolanaFloor, February 2025. Link
15. Reuters. “Argentina Gov’t Says Bribe Speculations ‘Insulting’ After President Promotes Failed Crypto.” Reuters, February 18, 2025. Link
16. Buenos Aires Times. “Impeachment Calls Against Milei Grow Amid Crypto Controversy.” Buenos Aires Times, February 21, 2025. Link