Buenos Aires, January 4 (NA) — Businessman Javier Horacio Faroni, politically linked to the massismo movement, sought an international broker to urgently sell an executive jet acquired with access to official dollars during currency controls. According to a journalistic investigation, the aircraft was taken to the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport in Florida, where it awaits potential buyers. In this context, the case of the Learjet LV-JQQ became a symbol of how privileged access to the official dollar allowed operations that are now under intense political and judicial scrutiny.
Years later, in June 2024, the aircraft was transferred to Faroni's firm. The plane not only fell under Faroni's corporate orbit but was also used for internal and regional flights coinciding with trips of Argentine football leaders, a fact that gained public relevance when judicial and administrative investigations surrounding the AFA became known.
From a theater businessman, Faroni moved on to public office: he was a provincial deputy for Buenos Aires and, during Alberto Fernández's government, he joined the board of Aerolíneas Argentinas, a position from which he resigned in 2022 following a complaint for alleged irregularities.
The decision to seek a foreign broker and sell the plane outside the country comes amid growing scrutiny over the use of subsidized dollars to purchase high-value goods like private aircraft during years of exchange rate restrictions. To finalize the sale, Faroni hired Jetcraft, one of the main intermediaries in the aviation market, although he requested that the offer not be published on open portals to avoid greater exposure.
According to Clarín, the plane's first owner was media businessman Daniel Vila, head of Grupo América. After the case was made public, the jet was taken out of the country and sent for maintenance in Florida, a prior step to its attempted sale. Faroni maintains a political and personal closeness to Sergio Massa, leader of the Renewal Front and a central figure in kirchnerism in recent years.
The operation was activated in the midst of the scandal involving AFA leaders and after the aircraft was transferred to the United States. As reported by the Argentine News Agency, it is a Bombardier Learjet 60XR, registration LV-JQQ, currently in the name of the society Listra 200 SA, controlled by Faroni. The jet entered the country in 2020 through a company linked to Vila and was acquired at that time benefiting from the import system that enabled access to official dollars, a mechanism that later continued under the SIRA scheme.
