José Luis Espert ordered to stand trial on money-laundering and graft charges

A court in San Isidro has placed former La Libertad Avanza lawmaker José Luis Espert on trial for presumed money-laundering and illegal enrichment, slapping a lien of a billion pesos on his assets and banning him from leaving the country.

The ruling, signed by federal judge Lino Mirabelli and issued Thursday, is the latest development from the investigation into an alleged US$200,000-payment received by Espert in 2020 from Federico ‘Fred’ Machado, an Argentine businessman currently detained in the United States who is facing money-laundering and drug-trafficking charges in the US courts.

Also standing trial will be Espert’s accountant, Mariano Alejandro Cosentino, considered a necessary participant in the crime of money-laundering with a lien of 700 million pesos slapped on his assets.

Last August, the former La Libertad Avanza deputy presented a 141-page writ in court requesting his acquittal and justifying the payment under investigation as a business consultancy contract signed by a notary and annotated by the Argentine state. Nevertheless, the prosecution suspects the payment was a money-laundering manoeuvre.

“The payment arrived in MY account with MY name in reference to the transfer. A single transfer, from bank to bank. A money-launderer hides his name whereas I put mine in every paper,” posted Espert in his X social network account on August 19.

Judge Mirabelli’s decision arrives a few days after the San Martín Federal Appeals Court decided not to accept the legal arguments of the ex-deputy presented twice to halt the investigation against him.

The court rejected a request to quash the evidence sought by prosecutor Rodolfo Domínguez, also rejecting a recusal of the latter for “loss of objectivity” and “expressing an interest alien to the trial.”

The allegations against Espert made frontpage headlines back in 2025 and forced the lawmaker to step down his candidacy for lawmaker representing Buenos Aires Province. At the time, the ex-lawmaker was the lead candidate on the La Libertad Avanza ticket.

–TIMES/NA