A federal judge on Thursday charged former deputy José Luis Espert, a Milei ally, with money laundering over a US$200,000 payment, froze 1,000 million pesos (about US$650,000) of his assets and barred him from leaving Argentina.
Espert was the lead candidate of Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, in Buenos Aires province for the October 2025 midterms until he quit the race. The ruling, known in Argentina as a procesamiento, means Judge Lino Mirabelli, of the federal court in San Isidro near Buenos Aires, found enough evidence to move the case toward trial. It is not a conviction, and Espert can appeal.
The money reached an account in Espert’s name abroad on January 22, 2020, from a company used by Federico “Fred” Machado, a businessman who has pleaded guilty in Texas to money laundering and wire fraud. Espert says it was an advance for consulting work for a Guatemalan mining company. The judge called that contract “a sham contract that nobody expected to be carried out,” at least as far as Espert’s own commitments went.
Prosecutor Fernando Domínguez says Espert then laundered the money by buying a BMW and a Lexus and by his wife joining a real estate trust at the Costa Esmeralda seaside development. The judge dropped two parts of the accusation, a deposit on a plot of land and the peso portion of the Lexus payment.
Espert’s accountant, Mariano Alejandro Cosentino, was charged as a necessary participant and had 700 million pesos frozen. His family company, Varianza SA, had 500 million pesos frozen.
Espert refused to answer the judge’s questions and submitted a written reply instead. He says the contract was real and notarized and the money a non-refundable advance. In an August filing seeking dismissal, he argued that “without proven illicit origin there is nothing to ‘launder’: the whole building falls.”
The case began in October 2025 with a complaint by the Peronist politician Juan Grabois, when Espert’s ties to Machado became public and he left the race. Espert can appeal in the coming days, and the San Martín Federal Chamber, the regional appeals court, would then review the charge.