Buenos Aires, December 1, 2025 – Total News Agency (TNA) – In a spectacular judicial operation, the Argentine Federal Police this Monday raided the headquarters of Sur Finanzas, its branches, and the Club Atlético Banfield, as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion, money laundering, and irregular dealings linked to financier Ariel Vallejo, who has a close relationship with the President of the AFA, Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia.
With Tapia and Toviggino facing growing scrutiny, an expanding body of evidence, and the Justice Department following multiple leads simultaneously, the case threatens to become one of the most serious institutional and economic scandals to hit the AFA in recent years. In judicial circles, they do not rule out that the raids and new complaints could converge into a mega-case of money laundering and illicit enrichment linked to the political and economic ecosystem of the AFA.
Prosecutor Incardona maintains that Vallejo, his relatives, and partners committed two separate crimes: massive tax evasion and the placement of over 800 billion pesos of unknown origin into the market. She attributes special relevance to the role of Lucas Labbad, former manager of Boca Juniors, whose entry into the viticulture business with Pantano would have—according to the complainants—allowed him access to the “direct circle” of Tapia.
While the Justice Department analyzes the traceability of funds and assets, an old message has reignited the public scene: the tweet from Carlos Tevez, dated March 5, 2024, which directly targeted Toviggino. The company was already under suspicion in another case for alleged money laundering related to operations through virtual wallets, and now the Justice Department is expanding its focus to Argentine football clubs, including Banfield.
Parallel to the judicial progress, politics has added an explosive chapter. This is compounded by the suspicion that several clubs—including San Lorenzo, Racing, Temperley, Los Andes, Morón, and Defensores de Glew—had financial dealings with Sur Finanzas.
The progress of the procedures opens a period of maximum tension for the leadership of Argentine football. For legislator Facundo Del Gaiso, that tweet “could be the tip of the thread” in an investigation that, he argues, exposes a network of illicit money in Argentine football. According to Yofe, a leader from CC in Pilar, “in the neighborhood, people say it clearly: this is Tapia’s, this is Toviggino’s.”
In total, the Superintendence of Federal Investigations carried out 19 raids in search of documentation and relevant evidence. The case originated from a complaint by DGI-ARCA regarding alleged evasion of the check tax for 3.3 billion pesos. According to the complaint, the property, supposedly purchased by a retiree who received IFE in 2020 and a monotributista (simplified tax regime payer) in category G with bank debts, features a collection of classic cars, an Arabian horse stud farm, an equestrian track, a helipad, and sports facilities—all inconsistent with the tax profile of the supposed buyers.
The filing details a corporate web with abrupt capital movements, changes in corporate name, and unjustified asset expansions. The agency detected that Sur Finanzas had moved over 818 billion pesos using identities without the financial capacity to do so or that were non-existent.
Elisa Carrió and leaders of the Civic Coalition filed a complaint with PROCELAC stating that two people with low incomes—Luciano Pantano and Ana Lucía Conte—had allegedly acted as frontmen for Tapia and the AFA treasurer, Pablo Toviggino, in the purchase of a mansion of over 100,000 square meters in Pilar.
The investigation, spurred by the complaint filed by the government of Javier Milei, is deepening as suspicions grow over million-dollar movements and alleged frontman structures mentioned in a recent statement by Elisa Carrió.
The procedures were ordered by federal judge Luis Armella of Lomas de Zamora, at the request of federal prosecutor Cecilia Incardona, who requested the freezing of all Sur Finanzas accounts, the lifting of banking, tax, and stock market secrecy for Vallejo, and the seizure of his cell phone. She also claimed to have seen “containers and classic cars” enter the property in question.
“One cannot exist without the other”.
“Besides the collection of old and imported cars you’re accumulating in Pilar, also bury the suitcases you brought from Qatar and from the friendlies in China, remember Ali Baba,” the xeneize idol posted at the time.
