FBI seizes Argentina team plane in $300m probe into football federation finances

US federal agents have seized the Argentina national football team’s plane in New York and are investigating more than $300m in commercial deals linked to the Argentine Football Association (AFA), in what is emerging as one of the country’s biggest sports corruption scandals.

The US Department of Justice and FBI have opened a wide‐ranging inquiry into how hundreds of millions of dollars related to AFA’s sponsorships and other commercial contracts moved through the American banking system, according to Argentine outlet Infobae.

Investigators are said to be focusing in particular on tens of millions of dollars whose final destination is not clearly documented in bank records they have examined.

The case centres on AFA president Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, AFA treasurer Pablo Toviggino and businessmen Diego Lucero and Javier Varoni, who are reportedly under investigation on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement.

Team plane held at JFK as assets targeted

Infobae reports that FBI agents detained the Argentina national team’s aircraft at New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport to confiscate property belonging to senior AFA officials, including Tapia and Toviggino.

The seizure is understood to have taken place while Tapia and other AFA executives were in the United States accompanying the world champions – prompting a flurry of speculation in Argentina about the true scale of alleged wrongdoing at the federation.

The report says the US investigation began to take shape during the recent World Cup cycle, as US prosecutors and FBI agents started reconstructing financial flows tied to AFA’s international commercial contracts. The operations under scrutiny are said to exceed $300m.

The affair has unfolded against a backdrop of conspiracy theories in parts of the Argentine media about match manipulation surrounding a recent final – narratives which Infobae describes as a smokescreen distracting from what it calls the “real scandal” inside the federation.

Florida ‘shell company’ at heart of money-laundering probe

At the core of the US case is a Florida‐registered entity described in court paperwork as a shell company and alleged to have been the principal vehicle for laundering and transferring money from AFA’s sponsorship deals signed from the last World Cup up to the 2030 tournament.

Officials from the AFA have been summoned to appear before the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on 30 July in relation to what is being referred to in US documents as the “AFA scandal” investigation.

They have been ordered to provide all available information about the Florida‐based company, which is said to have been designated – on the explicit instruction of Tapia – as AFA’s “exclusive agent” for collecting income from:

– international commercial contracts – sponsors and commercial rights – friendly matches and other business linked to the Argentina national team

In return, the company, TourProdEnter LLC, formed by Varoni and his wife Erika Gillette, was to receive commissions for its role and the logistics it provided.

It is estimated the company captured around 30% of all AFA commercial revenue over the period in question.

Millions moved in hours across multiple accounts

According to documents cited by Infobae, the investigation asserts that AFA income was split across multiple bank accounts.

Roughly $14m in revenue from contracts in Asia, Europe and the Gulf is believed to have passed through a single account. The money reportedly stayed there for only 24 to 72 hours before being transferred to other destinations.

US investigators say that, among other alleged irregularities, the AFA failed to declare any of the sums under US scrutiny in its official financial statements.

The same reporting links the probe to the earlier seizure, at the end of last year, of more than 50 luxury cars and a property in Villa Rosa valued at over $20m. Those assets are said to be registered in the name of a front man tied to Tapia.

Tapia camp and AFA issue strong denials

Sources close to the AFA president have rejected the allegations, describing them as “false” and “baseless”, despite the ongoing cases.

Mariano Lizardo, Tapia’s lawyer, told Argentine newspaper La Nacion: “لقد تحدثت معه للتو، ولم يحدث ذلك”.

In a separate statement to the media, the AFA attempted to rebut key elements of the US case and subsequent press coverage.

“In light of media reports, the Argentine Football Association deems it necessary to provide the following clarification: the document mentioned in various publications does not constitute a summons addressed to the President of the AFA, Claudio Tapia, nor to the Treasurer of the institution, Pablo Toviggino,” the statement said.

“The subpoena issued by the United States Court for the Southern District of Florida is addressed to a third party, who is required to appear before a Grand Jury and provide documents and correspondence related to various individuals, including authorities of this association,” it continued.

It concluded: “لا تنص الوثيقة المذكورة على اي اجراءات شخصية ضد رييس الاتحاد او امين صندوقه، ولا تامر بمثولهما امام المحكمة، ولا تفرض عليهما اي التزام اجرايي، ولا تسجل اي حجز او مصادرة لممتلكاتهما. ان نشر معلومات غير دقيقة او محرفة عمدا يولد معلومات مضللة خطيرة ويوثر بشكل غير مبرر على شرف وسمعة الافراد والموسسات”.

Echoes of past football corruption cases

The emerging US case carries echoes of earlier global football corruption investigations, including the sprawling FIFA corruption scandal that also ran through the courts of the Southern District of Florida and New York.

For Argentina – reigning world champions and one of the sport’s most powerful federations – the fallout could be significant, potentially affecting senior leadership and commercial structures that underpin the national team’s lucrative global profile.

No charges have yet been publicly announced by US authorities against Tapia or Toviggino, and the AFA insists neither man is personally summoned in the current subpoena. The investigation, however, is ongoing – with US prosecutors now in possession of digital devices, banking records and control over the national team’s aircraft, as they try to follow the money trail behind Argentina’s football empire.