President Javier Milei’s government has agreed to extradite businessman Federico Andrés ‘Fred’ Machado to face trial on criminal charges in the United States.
Machado, who faces drug-trafficking charges, is at the centre of a scandal over his ties to José Luis Espert, the ruling-party lawmaker who last weekend resigned his candidacy in the upcoming October 26 midterms.
Espert, a Milei ally who was La Libertad Avanza’s top candidate in the upcoming legislative elections, initially denied receiving US$200,000 from Machado, though he later backtracked on that stance.
Espert resigned his congressional bid in Buenos Aires Province on Sunday as the scandal raged on, a blow to Milei, who needs to win seats in Congress, where his party is in the minority in both chambers.
The President accepted Espert’s resignation and attributed the allegations linking him to drug trafficking to “a sinister operation” by the opposition.
Machado, 57, has been under house arrest in Argentina’s south since his 2021 arrest following the issuing of an Interpol arrest warrant.
Milei has instructed his government to take “the necessary administrative and diplomatic steps” to extradite Machado to the United States, according to a statement from the Presidency.
Via a communiqué, the President’s Office informed that the head of state has instructed the Foreign Ministry, the Legal and Technical Secretariat and the Cabinet chief to act in conformity with the law.
“The President has instructed the competent areas to instrument the necessary steps to comply with the judicial decision and advance with the corresponding executive action,” continued the official text.
Milei’s government further reaffirmed “the commitment of the Argentine Republic to international cooperation in the struggle against the laundering of assets, drug-trafficking and organised crime” with the objective of “thwarting the mafias and boosting both national and transnational security.”
Debra Mercer-Erwin, Machado’s partner, has already been jailed in the United States in this case.
Machado’s defence lawyers are Roberto Rallin and Norberto Francisco Oneto, Javier Milei’s lawyer in the case lodged by Ian Moche.
In April, 2022, Gustavo Villanueva, who heads the Neuquén federal court, declared Machado’s “extradition legitimate” but the defendant impugned that decision.
The next April Attorney-General Eduardo Casal also ruled in favour of the extradition, so that the case was up to the resolution of the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected defence appeals and ratified the sentence of a Neuquén court that Machado be sent north.
Defence lawyers Roberto Rallin and Norberto Francisco Oneto, had alleged violation of the principle of equality, attempting to recuse the judge and arguing that Article 30 of Law 24,767 on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters is unconstitutional, arguments that were dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Machado has been accused of financing Espert’s 2019 presidential campaign.
Earlier Tuesday, the entrepreneur admitted to having provided the lawmaker with money and logistical support through private aircraft. “His mistake was denying me,” he told Radio Rivadavia in an interview.
“The idea of supporting Espert financially came because he said to me: ‘I need you, there aren’t many of us, we’re few,’” Machado explained, adding that the agreed sum exceeded US$200,000.
US prosecutors accuse Machado of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine, money-laundering, wire fraud and export violations, among other charges.
Espert, 63, acknowledged last week that he had taken around 35 flights on the businessman’s private planes but insisted he was unaware of Machado’s alleged links to drug-trafficking.
A prosecutor has opened an investigation into Espert on Tuesday for alleged money-laundering, while the opposition is pushing for his expulsion from Congress.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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