Buenos Aires, November 26, 2025 - Total News Agency (TNA) - An investigation opened in the federal courts of Buenos Aires has exposed a network linking the finance company Sur Finance and its visible face, Maximiliano Ariel Vallejo, with multi-million dollar loans to football clubs, sponsorship of the professional league, the use of a cryptocurrency app (“NEBLOCKSHAIN”), and the bribery case involving the National Disability Agency (ANDIS).
The investigation, ordered by Judge Sebastián Casanello at the request of Prosecutor Franco Picardi, began with a raid on the headquarters of Sur Finance in Adrogué, Buenos Aires province. The link to the ANDIS case adds gravity: it is being investigated that through targeted tenders to a few pharmacies, public funds were diverted and then channeled into money laundering circuits.
The finance company appeared precisely on the money laundering route linked to the alleged embezzlement by the official agency. The fact that the ANDIS case already involves Calvete—with chats, dollar movements, and cryptocurrencies—and now Vallejo, expands the scope of the operation to the sports-financial network.
According to the prosecutor's ruling, messages between Vallejo and other defendants reveal that part of the illicit funds were channeled through the cryptocurrency app, linked to the finance company under investigation. In one of the emails attributed to the operation's environment, there are instructions from the alleged operator Miguel Ángel Calvete for his lieutenant, Alan Pocoví, to invest funds received from ANDIS corruption in NEBLOCKSHAIN. Sur Finance appears on the route precisely as a receiver of those funds.
Among the public loans exposed, the company lent approximately 2 billion pesos to the San Lorenzo de Almagro club; it also became known for its sponsorship of teams like Racing Club, Banfield, Platense, and Barracas Central—the latter chaired by Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, with whom Vallejo boasts a “very nice relationship”.
This case is not limited to football or the finance company, but reveals a systemic dimension: the use of sports institutions as a screen for illegal operations, the collusion between business and state sectors, and the use of new digital platforms for money laundering. The name of Tapia, the prominence of Vallejo, and the appearance of cryptocurrencies like NEBLOCKSHAIN show how traditional corruption schemes are mutating towards the digital.
As the investigation progresses, questions multiply: how deep is the money laundering in football clubs? How many entities received unsecured and uncontrolled loans? What role did cryptocurrencies play, and what will be the responsibility of sports leaders? How widespread is the collusion between finance companies and state bodies?
Ultimately, this scandal could become a catalyst for pending reforms in professional sports, financial transparency, and the oversight of public funds.
