An investigation progresses regarding more than 300 million dollars while Tapia accompanies the National Team at the World Cup
Meanwhile, Tapia remains in U.S. territory after receiving judicial authorization to travel, despite the exit ban from the country that weighs on him in a local case linked to alleged mismanagement of tax and pension funds amounting to over 19 billion pesos.
The investigation in the United States is led by three federal prosecutors specialized in economic and financial crimes: Patrick Gushue and Christopher Ting, based in Washington DC, and Michael Berger, a member of the Federal Prosecutor's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Their task focuses on determining whether there are sufficient elements to move towards a criminal case under U.S. legislation.
For now, the measures taken do not involve formal charges. The process is in a preliminary stage aimed at identifying the involved parties, analyzing the structures used, and establishing the flow of money in the AFA's international operations.
The timing of the summons is also significant. While federal investigators began taking statements in Miami, Tapia was closely following the Argentine team's participation in the World Cup.
While Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia was in Miami with the delegation of the Argentine National Team ahead of the round of 16 match of the World Cup against Cape Verde, a key movement was taking place in that same city regarding the international investigation into the management of funds of the Argentine Football Association (AFA).
According to reports, FBI agents and prosecutors from the Department of Justice of the United States summoned businessman Guillermo Tofoni to testify, who reported the financial structure used to manage the AFA's international commercial contracts.
The meeting was in person, lasted more than two hours, and was part of a preliminary investigation aimed at determining whether the operations carried out by the entity through banks and companies based in the United States could constitute crimes under U.S. jurisdiction.
The case, which involves an amount exceeding 300 million dollars, began to gain more significance after the intervention of U.S. federal authorities. The summons of Tofoni represents one of the first concrete steps in the process of gathering testimonies to reconstruct the financial circuit of international operations of Argentine football.
The context in which this advancement occurs adds an additional element: the leadership of the AFA was in the United States accompanying the national team during the World Cup competition.
