Buenos Aires, November 18, 2025 (NA) – The Supreme Court of Justice upheld the conviction of three years of suspended prison sentence against the former Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation, Romina Picolotti, for fraud against the public administration, considering the defense's filing untimely. Judges Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti rejected the motion and thus confirmed the sentence, which also includes a lifetime ban from holding public offices, issued by the Federal Oral Court 6 in 2021 and ratified by the Federal Chamber of Cassation in 2023. According to the Argentine News Agency, during the trial, it was proven that Picolotti, while head of the Secretariat of Environment between 2006 and 2007, used public funds for personal and family expenses, including meals, airfares, flowers, pharmacy products, fuel refills, car washes, laundry services, pet food, and even purchases at gift and aromatic item stores. According to the file, daily unjustified lunch payments, charter flights, and tickets for acquaintances not affiliated with the agency were also detected. Nevertheless, the conviction became final, and once executed, she must return to the State almost seven million updated pesos, an amount calculated as the damage caused and also set as bail by the judges of the Federal Oral Court 6. The former official followed the process from the United States, where she resides. Picolotti denied the existence of a crime throughout the case and demanded her acquittal. Even a ticket from a bar attended by semi-naked women with the legend “Thank you very much”, as well as purchases for family birthdays, was incorporated into the file. Prosecutor Diego Luciani, in his closing argument, stated that there was “an absolutely irregular handling” of public funds and described it as “a real fraud in the exercise of public office”, for which he had requested three years and nine months in prison.
