The judicial investigation into the lavish quinta located in Villa Rosa, Pilar, suspected of actually belonging to the leadership of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), took a turn this Tuesday following a key decision from the San Martín Federal Chamber. The chamber resolved a jurisdictional conflict and ordered the case file to be handed over to the judge requested by the alleged frontmen of the property.
The resolution was adopted by Judge Alberto Lugones, president of Section II, who determined that the case for alleged money laundering should leave the Economic Crimes Court, run by Marcelo Aguinsky, and be sent to the Federal Court of Campana, led by Adrián González Charvay.
The case had a complex history. Initially, it was handled in Comodoro Py, in the federal court of Daniel Rafecas, who, after ordering the first measures, declared himself incompetent. However, the Economic Crimes judge refused to step aside from the case, defending the specialty of his court.
The motion that gave rise to the dispute was filed by the formal owners of the mansion, valued at around 20 million dollars: the monotributist Luciano Pantano and his mother, the retiree Ana Conte. They were pointed out by Justice as alleged frontmen and requested that the case be handled in Campana, the jurisdiction where the quinta is located. González Charvay granted the motion for inhibition and reclaimed the case for Aguinsky, arguing that territorial jurisdiction corresponded to his court.
By decision of Judge Leopoldo Bruglia, the file was sent to the Economic Crimes court. Now, with the intervention of the San Martín Chamber, the case falls under the Federal Justice of Campana.
In his ruling, Lugones recalled that Bruglia, when resolving the first jurisdictional conflict, had expressly left open the territorial discussion, a point that was seized upon by the defense of Pantano and Conte to insist on the transfer of the file. The central basis of the ruling was territorial, prioritizing the location of the investigated property and the principle of the "natural judge".
In his ruling, Lugones maintained that the territorial criterion must prevail and added an additional element: in November 2024, the AFA would have changed its legal address to Mercedes 1366, in the town of Pilar. Nevertheless, the head of the General Inspection of Justice, Daniel Vitolo, pointed out that this modification was not formally approved by the body, within the framework of a process that analyzes alleged accounting irregularities of the sports entity.
In parallel, the Justice is trying to reconstruct the origin of the funds used to acquire the property, finance its luxurious facilities—such as a barbecue area and a helipad—and sustain its maintenance. The suspicions about the role of Pantano and Conte were reinforced when it was detected that the vehicle telepasses were paid for with an AFA corporate card in Pantano's name, who was a leader of the entity. Judge Aguinsky ordered the issuing company, American Express, to suspend the debits, which also included electricity payments in homes with no link to sports activity.
With the transfer of the case file to Campana, a new stage opens in a case that puts the spotlight on the assets, financial flows, and links between the AFA and a corporate network that the Justice considers, for now, highly suspicious.
