Tapia and a dinner at Trump’s exclusive club in Miami with Félix Lasarte, a man close to the Republican /Web
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) could be the judge and party in the case of its president Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia. This was warned by the Civic Coalition (CC), founded by Elisa Carrió, when it revealed the basis of the complaint of money laundering involving partners of the AFA leadership, while questioning a part of the judicial system in light of what it saw as a serious conflict of interest. As the political space founded by Elisa Carrió warned, the leadership of the sports organization could be investigated by judges who constitute the disciplinary court of the federation itself.
The reason why Tapia is under investigation “could lie with a member of the AFA disciplinary court. It is impressive, but that is the delirium,” said CC chairman Matías Yofe, one of the complainants (along with Carrió) of the head of Argentine football’s parent organization.
In radio statements, Yofe asserted that “the justice system is completely at the mercy of these people” and questioned that the massive acquisition of assets by Tapia’s alleged frontmen had not triggered a “red alert” from state control authorities.
Specifically, the investigation focuses on the number of alleged front men linked to Tapia who would own a “magnificent mansion” with an unregistered helipad in Pilar and “more than 120 collector cars,” with incompatible assets to acquire these assets.
Despite the seriousness of the evidence, Yofe explained that the case presented to the Court of Cassation fell to the court of Daniel Rafecas, who “declared himself incompetent without having previously taken any interim measure.”
The alleged frontman intrigue involves Luciano Pantano, a monotributista, and his retired mother, who act as owners of the Real Central company. According to Yofe, the company owns the aforementioned mansion in Pilar, where the “120 Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and collector cars” found under its domain are believed to be located, in addition to “another house that we found in the Aires Plaza area of Pilar.”
The leader explained that the funds being laundered would come from funds that were supposed to go to the clubs.
“If this is confirmed, unfortunately it is the money that is not reaching the clubs,” he lamented, while “we see that all the clubs are completely defunded, are bankrupt or their infrastructure has completely collapsed.”
Another scandal is in the air
In parallel with the suspicions being investigated in several cases regarding his assets and the connections that would link him to the financier Ariel Vallejo, Tapia is pursuing the trail of another scandal. At issue is his alleged connection to the travel company Baires Fly, which hired him a luxury private plane for half a million dollars to travel to the 2026 World Cup draw, which took place in Washington on Friday.
The company that would have rented Tapia his Gulfstream G400 aircraft is the same one that, as the prosecutor in the Spagnuolo case, Franco Picardi, has proven, issued fake invoices for trips that were never carried out for the benefit of people suspected of collecting bribes for the sale of medicines to the National Disability Agency (ANDIS). This maneuver was an attempt to launder supposedly counterfeit money.
What’s more, according to the newspaper Clarín, the link between the defendant in this case and Baires Fly would have been the businessman Sergio Mastropietro, partner of Fred Machado, the drug trafficking defendant who is being tried in the United States and who has been proven to have links with the former Libertarian candidate José Luis Espert.
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