Buenos Aires, December 29 (NA) – With a winding career spanning theater, politics, and sports business, Javier Farone has emerged as one of the key figures from the Pandora's box that the Argentine Football Association (AFA) became after a scheme of alleged multi-million dollar money laundering abroad came to light, along with obscene growth in the Tapia clan's assets. Before commercially linking up with the head of Argentine football and becoming a shadow power within the AFA, Faroni traveled through other worlds, and in that journey, he expanded his network of contacts and influence. A native of Mar del Plata, at the age of 11, destiny put him face to face with the mythical actor Carlos Calvo while he was walking with his grandmother downtown. After effusively greeting his idol, Carlín invited him to a show at the Hotel Provincial, where he was able to watch the play from behind the stage. From that crucial moment in his life, Faroni became Calvo's cadet and apprentice, and he grew in his career to become a production assistant until, in the early 90s, he produced his first play. From that moment on, his rise was meteoric, and he became a reference point for theatrical production in the summer seasons. In a Copernican turn in his professional career, he entered politics with the Renewal Front of Sergio Massa. His wife, Erica Gillette, was also linked to Massism since the dawn of this political force, when it broke away from the then-ruling Kirchnerism. In 2015, Faroni was elected a Buenos Aires provincial deputy for the Renewal Front, and after an unsuccessful attempt to become the mayor of General Pueyrredón, he landed as a director of Aerolíneas Argentinas in 2019, when Alberto Fernández's administration began. Due to his role at the flag-carrier airline, during the coronavirus pandemic, he was in charge of coordinating the repatriation flights of footballers stranded abroad. From that position, his path crossed with that of Claudio 'Chiqui' Tapia, with whom he forged a fruitful relationship that endured beyond his stormy departure from Aerolíneas in February 2022, amid complaints of alleged corruption, unjustifiable increases in assets, and murky business abroad. In December 2021, a year before Lionel Scaloni and Lionel Messi's team achieved eternal glory in Qatar, and while still in a state position, the AFA hired TourProdEnter LLC, a Miami-based company linked to Faroni, as the exclusive commercial agent for the image rights, events, and international logistics of the Argentine national team abroad. Almost simultaneously, another company of the same individual, Deportick, took over the lucrative business of selling tickets for the national team and the Copa Argentina. After the triumph in Qatar, Faroni produced an Expo linked to the Scaloneta at La Rural in 2023 and also pushed for the failed AFA University. Additionally, in 2024, he acquired 80% of the shares of Perugia, a club in Italy's third division of Calcio, as the Argentine News Agency (NA) was able to reconstruct. After a journalistic investigation uncovered the alleged diversion of $42 million to companies abroad, Faroni issued a statement defending himself against the accusations against him, and while he admitted his role as a commercial agent for the AFA, he denied any type of irregular activity.
