Argentine Football Money Laundering Scandal Uncovered

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 9, 2025 - Total News Agency (TNA) - The largest judicial operation in the history of Argentine football has uncovered an increasingly complex financial web with ramifications reaching the Argentine Football Association (AFA), 17 clubs of different divisions, and the financier Sur Finanzas, linked to Ariel Vallejo, an operator closely associated with Claudio 'Chiqui' Tapia. Preventive embargoes ordered by the justice system seek to prevent asset stripping or diversion by Vallejo and his inner circle, while bodies such as the Central Bank, the UIF, the National Securities Commission, and provincial registries collaborate with asset and corporate information. The 'Sur Finanzas' case takes on special importance in a scenario where Argentine football, historically subject to economic tensions, once again appears to be fertile ground for irregular schemes. The raids were complemented by the lifting of fiscal and banking secrecy, a measure requested by Federal Prosecutor Cecilia Incardona to reconstruct the money flows that would have circulated between Sur Finanzas and the sports institutions. The prosecution alleges that the suspected mechanism operated through the granting of inflated loans to clubs with economic problems. With clubs in deep economic crises, questioned leadership structures, and a parallel financial system operating for years, the judicial investigation promises to reveal a plot that, according to sources close to the case, is only beginning to be outlined in its entirety. Fiscal analysts described unusual cash movements, high-volume virtual transfers, and transfers that directly connect to operations linked to the investigated financier. For the investigators, analyzing this parallel network is crucial: it would allow understanding how money from clandestine gambling and other informal activities was channeled into sports structures with prolonged financial needs. The presence of external operators, the weakness of internal controls, and the chronic financial need of many clubs deepen the system's vulnerability and enable circuits that, according to the Justice system, could have been used to launder money in multi-million volumes. Ariel Vallejo, identified as the central figure in the network, appeared before the prosecutor's office last week to hand over his mobile phone, after initially refusing. The investigation for alleged money laundering and operations through irregular loans resulted in 33 raids ordered by federal judge Luis Armella in Lomas de Zamora, a case that has already become a high-impact institutional scandal. The operation included simultaneous inspections at the AFA's headquarters, the Ezeiza training ground, administrative offices, private homes, and facilities of involved clubs. According to this hypothesis, entities needing small amounts signed for figures several times larger, allowing money of illegal origin to enter the formal circuit as declared funds. The difference would return to Vallejo's financier for redistribution among political, municipal, or corporate actors. Information extracted from their devices and the seized documents will be key to establishing links, amounts, and responsibilities. The progress of the case raises a major question about the administrative functioning of Argentine football and the ability of control bodies to detect suspicious movements in a timely manner. His role, both due to his closeness to football structures and his participation in the investigated financier, will be decisive in reconstructing the suspected economic circuit. The maneuver, according to the preliminary investigation, could have been complemented by movements related to television rights, marketing contracts, and operations lacking fiscal substance. The 17 clubs included in this phase of the investigation cover institutions from the first, second, and promotion divisions: Independiente, Racing, San Lorenzo, Barracas Central, Acassusso, Almirante Brown, Banfield, Defensores de Belgrano, Deportivo Armenio, Dock Sud, Excursionistas, Los Andes, Morón, Platense, Estrella del Sur de San Vicente, Temperley, and Victoriano Arenas. The breadth of the list reveals the magnitude of the investigated scheme and the diversity of the affected structures. The Justice system is also advancing on another key piece of the file: a group of monotributistas (simplified tax regime payers) qualified as 'apocryphal' by the DGI, whose financial movements do not correspond to their actual economic capacity. These taxpayers would have operated tens of billions of pesos through digital wallets and accounts associated with Sur Finanzas, acting as alleged intermediaries intended to fragment money flows and hinder their traceability. In the procedures, a wide variety of documentation was seized: contracts, accounting records, computers, electronic devices, and potentially key financial documentation to advance the alleged illicit circuit.