Federico ‘Fred’ Machado, the Argentine businessman under investigation in the United States on money-laundering and drug-trafficking charges, has admitted to having funded part of national deputy José Luis Espert’s 2019 presidential campaign.
Espert, who had been tapped as President Javier Milei’s top candidate for the ruling party in Buenos Aires Province in this month’s midterm elections, resigned his candidacy for lawmaker on Monday with revelations about his relationship with Machado dominating the press.
Reporting over the two weeks has exposed a financial relationship, with Espert receiving at least US$200,000 from a Guatemalan mining company linked to Machado.
To date, the entrepreneur – who is awaiting a ruling over his potential extradition to the United States – has remained silent over his role in the scandal. But on Monday, he broke his silence in a series of radio interviews that revealed details about his ties to the La Libertad Avanza lawmaker.
“Espert didn’t ask me for money. He didn’t name an amount, he asked for help,” Machado revealed in an interview with Radio Rivadavia. “He said to me, ‘I need you, it’s not much.’ At the time, he was launching a book and I told him I was about to buy a small plane – completely legal. I covered the travel expenses he needed to get around.”
Machado said Espert had asked him for money, complaining that his campaign was lacking funding. According to the businessman, over the course of their relationship he contributed roughly US$150,000 in food and travel expenses.
He emphasised that he had not funded “Espert’s whole campaign.”
“There was no structure. My assistance was minimal,” Machado claimed.
Machado also confirmed that he hired Espert as a consultant for a mining project he was pursuing in a Guatemalan community, for which he paid US$200,000, all above board.
“The US$200,000 was because I told Espert about the project and he said he did consultancy work, so I suggested we sign a consultancy agreement. We signed a contract,” said Machado.
He said that Espert had later sought to resume his consultancy work, but that other issues meant it was never completed.
In a separate interview, Machado added that it was feasible that the overall contract could have been worth around US$1 million.
“I can’t confirm it, but it could be that there was a million-dollar contract, because it was a major project. I don’t remember the total amount, but I remember it was paid in instalments and that US$200,000 was paid,” Machado told Splendid AM 990.
The businessman expressed regret over Espert’s fall from grace, but argued the lawmaker’s mistake “was denying me.”
Machado also denied any ties to drug-trafficking, stating: “If I had ties to the Sinaloa cartel, I’d be dead by now.”
He said he met Espert “by chance” in 2019 and was drawn to his political stance, which led him to contribute to the Avanza Libertad presidential campaign.
“I’m not a drug trafficker, I’m just a guy who made a mistake,” he argued. “They invented a character that doesn’t exist, and that accelerated my case. It’s madness.”
"This whole thing snowballed and now it’s affecting me. It’s not my fault that Espert denied me. That was his mistake. It wasn’t some secret or millionaire-level support. I lent him a friend’s plane, gave him a bit of money,” he concluded.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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