AFA Scandal: Exposing Money Transfer Scheme

According to documents and photographic records published by the newspaper La Nación, between 2020 and 2022, at least seven cash deliveries were made—both in pesos and dollars—that started from offices in Buenos Aires' financial district and ended up in the hands of the top leader of Argentine football. The operation, coordinated by Toviggino through his lieutenant Juan Pablo Beacon, included precise instructions for the packages to be delivered at the door of the AFA headquarters on Viamonte Street or at the facility in Ezeiza. The delivery mechanism was recorded in WhatsApp chats that are currently being analyzed by Federal Judge Luis Armella. In one conversation, dated September 2021, Toviggino instructed Beacon to prepare an envelope with 300,000 pesos for Tapia: 'An envelope like that, Carucha, with 300 thousand at the AFA door'. Minutes later, the treasurer sent a photo of the label to confirm the shipment. During the forensic investigations, videos were found of Beacon counting sums exceeding 100,000 dollars and photos of his desk piled with bundles of banknotes. 'You have to go to the facility, it's for Tapia,' reads another of Toviggino's messages that complicates the procedural situation of the AFA's leadership in a case that promises to shake the foundations of the institution. 'Take PT to Montevideo,' or 'Take Pablo to Montevideo,' were other orders that referred to an apartment in Recoleta attributed to the treasurer, where the administration of Tapia's alleged requests was centralized. The judicial investigation also focused on the origin of these funds, which are believed to come from misappropriations by intermediary companies in charge of collecting AFA's income from abroad. This methodology, which left unusual written evidence, was repeated regularly. 'I have to deliver 40,000 dollars.'