The federal prosecutor considered that there is not enough evidence to support that the official enriched himself illegally during his time in the Government
Pollicita considered that this explanation could not be refuted with the available evidence. This issue is decisive because the figure of illicit enrichment requires that the appreciable and unjustified increase in wealth occurs after assuming a public office. In this case, the origin of the funds is located several years before December 2023.
The federal prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita ruled out maintaining the hypothesis of illicit enrichment against Manuel Adorni and requested that the case be sent to the National Justice in Economic Criminal matters to investigate, instead, a possible tax evasion.
In his opinion, he considered that it could not be ruled out that the origin of the questioned capital was prior to the official's arrival in the Executive Power.
The conclusion represents a shift in the focus of the investigation, as the Prosecutor's Office understood that the evidence gathered does not allow affirming that Adorni unjustifiably increased his wealth during his public service.
The case is under the responsibility of Judge Ariel Lijo, who will have to resolve the prosecutor's request. The asset investigation covered the period between December 14, 2023, and June 27, 2026.
One of the central points of the opinion was the explanation presented by Adorni's defense regarding the origin of his funds. The official stated that he had made investments in Bitcoin between 2014 and 2018, through eight self-custody addresses, with purchases close to USD 200,000.
According to his defense, the subsequent liquidation of those assets produced USD 591,544.61, money that he would have kept in cash.
Furthermore, the prosecutor emphasized that the investigation did not manage to link the questioned money with “a functional act, a consideration, or an illicit source associated with the position.”
To assess the economic feasibility of those investments, the Prosecutor's Office also reconstructed the formal income of Adorni and his wife, Bettina Angeletti. According to records from ANSES and ARCA, the accumulated earnings of the couple amounted to approximately USD 335,000 by 2014 and USD 493,000 if the calculation was extended to 2018.
In addition, the exchange records reported joint purchases of USD 60,983 between 2011 and 2014, a figure that rose to USD 83,472 when including 2015.
Although he ruled out maintaining the accusation of illicit enrichment, Pollicita identified movements that justify deepening another line of investigation.
In this way, the prosecutor requested that the file be transferred to the Economic Criminal jurisdiction to determine whether tax evasion occurred. The hypothesis of illicit enrichment during public service no longer has sufficient elements to be sustained.
