Corruption in AFA: Ariel Vallejo, owner of Sur Finanzas and a man close to Chiqui Tapia, was summoned for investigation

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) and its nefarious president, Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, continue to add up blow after blow.

The federal justice summoned Ariel Vallejo, head of Sur Finanzas and a financier close to the boss, as well as 13 other alleged members of an illegal association accused of money laundering linked to Argentine football.

The case is in the hands of Judge Luis Armella, who heads Federal Court No. 2 of Lomas de Zamora, under the direction of prosecutor Cecilia Incardona. The statements were scheduled between May 5 and June 30

.

According to the investigation, the firm set up an illegal financial system that operated outside the regulations, raising funds, granting loans and managing capital with the objective of generating illegal assets that were then reinserted into the formal circuit through a complex business structure.

The file maintains that Vallejo would have been the leader of this organization, which operated between September 2020 and December 2025, a period in which the company consolidated ties with different football players. In this context, the Customs Collection and Control Agency (ARCA) had also reported irregularities such as the use of false mono-taxpayers and apocryphal companies to move large sums

of money.

Among the maneuvers detected, the prosecution detailed abusive financial conditions in the discounting of checks, loan contracts with usurious rates, the imposition of their own payment systems on clubs and the signing of simulated sponsorship agreements, which would have served to justify movements of money without real consideration.

The investigation originated after a complaint of fraud and money laundering filed by the company Auriga League S.A., which accused Banfield of not repaying a loan of two million euros. Since that case, raids have been carried out at the headquarters of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), clubs and homes

linked to the financial sector.

As the case progressed, other institutions such as San Lorenzo, Argentinos Juniors, Estrella del Sur and Temperley also came under the spotlight, in the context of alleged irregular financial ties.

In addition to Vallejo, the cause involves a wide range of people. Graciela Vallejo, Silvia Torrado, María Fernanda Sena Argis, Bárbara Sena Argis and Maite Lorenzo were also invited as members and co-authors of lavado