Economy Politics Sport Local 2026-03-31T18:24:28+00:00

AFA Financial Scandal: Leadership Charged in Major Fraud Case

An Argentine court has charged the leadership of the AFA with the misappropriation of over $19 billion in taxes and social security funds. An investigation revealed multimillion-dollar credits, transfers, and financial operations conducted while the organization claimed it was unable to meet its obligations. Leaders Claudio Tapia and Pablo Toviggino now face serious legal consequences.


AFA Financial Scandal: Leadership Charged in Major Fraud Case

In June 2024, another piece of information also came to light: eight consecutive credits totaling $4,165,449,433 from the sale of dollars abroad and a monthly movement of $5,880,162,114, although debits left a final negative balance of $11,458,654,798. Through this collection agency, the AFA distributed funds to clubs: on May 5, 2025, it transferred $1,000,000,000 to 23 teams in the First Division, and the next day sent additional sums to teams in the National First Division B and other categories. In parallel, the case intersects with another discussion that is already emerging outside the tax case. For example, in September 2024, the investigation detected three credits in the BST account for $902.6 million, $852.4 million, and $480.5 million, in addition to five transfers to Credicoop for a total of $2,893,315,658. The ruling details at least 24 placements, with nearly $32 billion invested in pesos and more than $5.638 billion generated in interest between April 2024 and July 2025, in addition to dollar-fixed terms for $7.4 million. Between May 1 and 31, 2024 alone, the ruling recorded at least 13 funding maneuvers between accounts for $12,374,000,000, precisely during a period that coincided with pension maturities. Pension obligations of $422,693,270 also matured that month. A presentation by businessman Guillermo Tofoni to the BCRA, later also referred to the Judiciary, denounced that part of the income generated abroad may not have entered the official market and pointed to movements of up to $300 million, with a focus on the firm Tour Prod Enter, linked to Javier Faroni and Erica Gilette. According to the file, these accounts were used to operate within the electronic payments market, buy and sell currencies and securities, and receive transfers from abroad, all in the name of the AFA. The judge charged them with aggravated misappropriation of taxes in 34 instances and aggravated misappropriation of social security resources in 17 instances, in addition to ordering embargoes of $350 million for each and maintaining restrictions on their movements. On April 30 of that year, there was also a credit of over $1,443 million, and two days later another for $975,263,206, which was credited to Credicoop as a "received MEP transfer". The story repeats in other key months. Between March 2024 and November 2025, more than $25,831,936,963 from The Walt Disney Company Argentina S.A. entered just one Credicoop account, in addition to deposits from YPF and Adidas Argentina. The Judiciary does not say that each of these funds should necessarily have gone to the treasury, but it does emphasize that the volume of available resources was incompatible with the image of an entity without the financial margin to meet its obligations. Another point that complicated the leadership was that of fixed-term deposits. The defense, led by Gregorio Dalbón, has already announced that it will appeal and argues that the debt was paid, but the court emphasized that the criminal axis is placed on the failure to deposit within the legal deadlines, not on whether it was paid later or not. The most delicate part of the ruling lies in the details of the accounts. The investigators followed the trail of two accounts in Banco Credicoop, where, according to accountant Mónica Viviana Bouvet, tax obligations were settled, and an AFA account in Banco de Servicios y Transacciones (BST). The judicial reasoning is direct: with part of those returns, it would have been enough to cancel at least part of the debt claimed by the tax authorities. The AFA's judicial front assumed a high-voltage chapter after Judge Diego Amarante put a spotlight on a sequence of millionaire movements that, according to the investigation, show an uncomfortable picture for the leadership of Claudio "Chiqui" Tapia and Pablo Toviggino: while pension and tax obligations were maturing, the entity showed a flow of funds, transfers, and financial placements that, for the Judiciary, dismantles the argument of a supposed inability to pay. The processing of Tapia and Toviggino was linked to a case initiated after a complaint by ARCA, which led to a resolution for more than $19 billion in withholdings and contributions not deposited on time between 2024 and 2025. That line is still running on its own track, but it completes an increasingly complex picture for the Viamonte leadership: it is no longer just about late payments, but about a financial architecture that, when viewed as a whole, is beginning to come under much deeper judicial pressure. To this are added large commercial transfers. For the judge, that red does not speak of suffocation, but of a significant authorization to operate in the red. The ruling also highlights who was authorized to move certain sensitive accounts in the BST: Tapia, Toviggino, and María Florencia Sartirana. There they detected operations linked to the MEP dollar, income from the commercialization of financial instruments, and funds from abroad.