Buenos Aires, January 26, 2026 – Total News Agency-TNA-The judicial investigation into alleged maneuvers with the official dollar exchange rate during the previous government has entered a phase of high political and judicial voltage after a repentant former police officer announced that he will expand his testimony and provide new elements that, according to his defense, would compromise actors located at the 'tip of the pyramid' of the suspected financial scheme.
This is Carlos Sebastián Smith, a former police officer, who has already testified as a collaborating defendant in a case investigating the so-called 'dollar roll': a circuit through which foreign currency was obtained at the official exchange rate to then be sold on the informal market, generating millionaire profits.
Smith advanced that, once the judicial fair is over, he will deepen his testimony and expand the scope of the responsibilities indicated so far. The case gained special relevance with the incorporation of an audio in which a former Central Bank official alludes to the existence of 'people from above entangled' in relation to these maneuvers.
That recording, provided by Smith, was one of the triggers for a series of raids carried out last December in the offices of the monetary entity, within the framework of an investigation that combines financial crimes, abuse of power and the setup of judicial cases. According to sources from the file, the conversation corresponds to a telephone exchange between Romina García, head of the Non-Financial Entities Supervision area of the Central Bank, and Elías Piccirillo, businessman and ex-husband of host Jesica Cirio.
In that dialogue, the official states that the irregularities had been timely denounced within the body, but no progress was made because 'upstairs' no one took measures. The Justice now seeks to determine who that phrase referred to.
Smith not only provided the key audio, but also seven other recordings, documents and draft complaints that, presumably, Piccirillo asked him to draw up to involve Hauque in supposed extortion attempts against Central Bank officials. In this context, the Justice is investigating whether certain officials facilitated or covered up the 'dollar roll' scheme.
The raids ordered by Judge Sebastián Casanello, at the request of Prosecutor Franco Picardi, included the seizure of phones from five Central Bank officials, all under investigation. The expectation now is placed on what the repentant will decide to reveal when he testifies again and if the Justice will be able to trace the trail to the higher levels that, according to the audio itself, 'knew everything'.
'He knows how far the tip of the pyramid goes,' said his lawyer, who maintained that the next expansion of the statement could change the axis of the case and escalate responsibilities to higher levels of the political and economic power of the previous stage. Meanwhile, the file advances in multiple directions and threatens to become one of the most sensitive investigations into the management of the foreign exchange market, institutional connivance and the use of the state apparatus for private purposes.
Piccirillo is accused not only of participating in the illegal financial circuit, but also of having set up a criminal case against financier Francisco Hauque, to whom he claimed a multi-million dollar debt. To date, there are no concrete identifications, but investigators consider that the audio reinforces the hypothesis of an institutional protection network that allowed the continuity of the exchange maneuvers. In parallel, the case exposes a broader and darker plot.
