Argentina is experiencing a crisis before the World Cup due to a mysterious villa and money laundering sports

Retired Argentine football star Carlos Tevez published a tweet in March 2024 in which he hinted that something suspicious had happened in a suburb of Buenos Aires. Tevez claimed that the treasurer of the Argentine Football Association was making many trips to the Pilar suburb, and hinted that the federation official was burying bags of money and keeping a collection of old cars.

Qualición Civica, a progressive political party, began investigating after Tevez’s post, filing a criminal complaint focusing on a mysterious villa in Pilar.

Mysterious villa and money laundering

As the World Cup approaches, allegations that the villa may have been used for money laundering have become one of a series of scandals to engulf the Argentine Football Association, the current world champions.

In early December, police raided the headquarters of the Argentine Football Association and more than a dozen clubs, as part of a money laundering investigation into money transfers linked to the clubs and a financial services company.

Three days later, police raided Villa Pilar and found a helipad, stables, and 54 vehicles, including luxury and rare cars.

The Qualición Civica party claims in its criminal complaint that the property is a front for a money laundering scheme linked to Claudio Tapia, president of the Argentine Football Association, and its treasurer, Pablo Tovigino.

Last week, according to the local newspaper La Nacion, in another case, the public prosecutor brought charges against Tapia, Tovigino and other union officials of illegally withholding taxes totaling $13 million after a complaint from the Argentine tax agency.

The Argentine Football Association did not respond to a query from Reuters requesting an interview with Tapia and Tovigino and to comment on the various judicial investigations that were opened recently.

Argentine Federation: We are under attack by the government

The Argentine Football Association said – in a statement – that it is under attack by the government of the country’s president, Javier Mele, in reference to Mele’s pressure for the country’s soccer clubs, which have long operated as non-profit organizations managed by their members, to become for-profit companies under the management of private owners.

The federation said, “We are on the right path,” reviewing the tournaments that Argentina has won since Tapia assumed the presidency of the federation in 2017, including the 2022 World Cup.

A representative for Tevez did not respond to a request for an interview. Tovigino did not respond to a request for comment.

Crisis despite Argentina’s success

Despite praise for Argentina’s performance on the field, the local federation is going through its biggest crisis in years.

Argentine sports journalist Nestor Centra said, “There are two Argentine football federations,” referring to success at the international level and instability at home.

Several months after Tevez’s tweet, Matias Yoffe, head of the Coalition Civica party branch in Pilar, told Reuters that he and his colleagues spoke to about 10 employees who worked at the Pilar property, and they assumed that Tovigino or Tapia were the owners.

Yoffe said one person described Tapia, who once arrived by helicopter and then gave employees soccer jerseys.

“What they described was that they acted as owners of the place, entered the pool and used the facilities,” Yoffie added.

He continued, “Everyone pointed out that this place belongs to people from the Argentine Football Association.”

The party’s complaint claimed that the property was purchased in 2024 by a company owned by Ana Lucia Conte and Luciano Nicolas Pantano, a mother and son who the lawsuit indicated could not afford the purchase. The attorney representing Pantano did not respond to a request for comment.

Records reviewed by Reuters indicate that the property, which extends over several residential blocks, was purchased for $1.8 million, although experts believe its value is much higher. The complaint refers to Pantano’s ties to the world of football, such as his presidency of the Argentine Futsal and Beach Soccer Federation.

According to court documents, during the raid, authorities found a black bag made of faux leather bearing the logo of the Argentine Football Association and Tovigino’s name, in addition to several books about football and a commemorative plaque bearing his name. The vehicles found at the scene included a Ferrari and several Porsche cars, registered in the name of the company that the prosecution attributed to Pantano and Conte.

An official familiar with the case confirmed that Tofijino’s relatives have a permit to drive at least a number of cars, confirming a report broadcast by the local TN television station. The authorities requested information about the pilots who used the helipad in the hope of identifying the passengers.

The Ministry of Justice asked the Argentine Football Association and the Premier League, which holds the rights to broadcast matches, to provide explanations for accounting data worth about half a billion dollars dating back to 2017.

The head of the ministry’s Inspector General’s Office, Daniel Vitolo, told Reuters that these amounts fall into categories in financial reports with unspecified names, such as “other.”

The Premier League declined Reuters’ request for comment.

“If the Argentine Football Association’s papers are really in order, why doesn’t it explain something that is very easy to explain?” Vitolo said.

“These things happen”

Experts stressed that these issues are unlikely to affect Argentina’s participation in the World Cup.

“No one can pay the political cost of doing this,” said Alan Wilder, a sports law lawyer in Buenos Aires.

He added, “No one will agree to the mere idea of ​​excluding (Lionel) Messi from the World Cup. With the possibility that this will be the last time he plays in the World Cup.”

Football around the world is no stranger to financial scandals. In recent years, corruption accusations have been brought against senior officials of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). Tapia’s predecessor resigned from his position, amid an investigation into irregularities related to the management of match broadcast funds. The defendants in the case were acquitted this month.

Before the current scandals, the Argentine Football Association had already faced criticism from fans for favouritism. Many were angry when the federation recently awarded the Rosario Central team – in which national team star Angel Di Maria plays – a controversial new title.

Enzo Gutierrez (30 years old), a resident of Buenos Aires who supports FC San Martin from his home province of San Juan, said, “I think the curtain has been lifted. It caught my attention a lot, but if you are a football fan, you live knowing that these things happen in Argentine football.”