Espert confirms link to Machado but says US$200K payment wasn't 'criminal'

La Libertad Avanza deputy José Luis Espert sought to put a lid on a developing scandal on Thursday night, admitting he met a businessman facing drug-trafficking allegations in the US courts but arguing he himself was no criminal.

Cornered by allegations linking him to detained businessman Federico Andrés ‘Fred’ Machado, Espert released a video statement late Thursday night in which he sought to give “frank and fully sincere explanations” for his actions.

In the six-minute broadcast, Espert admitted he received a US$200,000 payment in 2020, but said it did not come from Machado personally. He claimed it was an advance from a Guatemalan mining company for private economic consultancy work that he was contracted for after his unsuccessful run in 2019 for Argentina’s Presidency.

Espert, the ruling party’s top candidate for a seat representing Buenos Aires Province in the upcoming October 26 midterms, admitted to having been “naïve” but categorically denied being a “criminal,” as he laid out his version of events.

In the video, Espert insisted his only link with Machado was in the capacity of economic consultant, a relationship that developed after the end of the 2019 presidential campaign. 

Espert said he met Machado through a third party, who introduced him as “a successful businessman and admirer” of his political project. 

He acknowledged that in 2019, Machado offered to fly him in his private jet to Viedma for a book launch event and that the businessman was one of the “many who helped in that year’s presidential campaign.”

However, Espert made an effort to distinguish that support from the transfer of US$200,000. 

According to his version of events, Machado put him in touch with a Guatemalan mining company, Minas del Pueblo, which required his services as an economist to restructure a debt.

“In January 2020, once again working as an economic consultant and having finally signed a contract with that company, I began gathering information,” Espert explained. 

“At the beginning of February that year – I stress, once the election was over and I was fully dedicated to my private consultancy work – I received an advance under that contract," he claimed.

The libertarian economist stressed that the operation was entirely transparent and legal. The money was deposited into a US bank account in his name and duly declared in Argentina, he said. 

Espert also said that as a condition the payment had to be made by transfer from another US bank to ensure traceability. “When one receives a payment in the United States, it goes through one of the most tightly controlled and rigorous systems in the world,” he argued.

The deputy said that “this was not a payment from Mr Machado, but from a company that required my professional services.”

According to Espert, his work with the mining company was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, which prevented him from travelling to Guatemala to continue the consultancy work.

He did not explain why the company had advanced his fee to him.

However, Noticias Argentinas reported Friday that the company is co-owned by Machado. Guatemalan investigative outlets and the Guatemalan Public Ministry published archival posts from 2020–2021 showing that Minas del Pueblo SA is owned by  Machado and is linked to an airplane and private runway under investigation, said the agency.

This evidence directly contradicts Espert’s claim that the company was independent of Machado, casting serious doubt on his defence.

In his video, Espert attributed the controversy to a “dirty campaign” launched by Patria Grande leader, Juan Grabois, a social activist and lawyer who has previously ran on the opposition Peronist coalition’s ticket. 

Espert claimed that it was only in April 2021 that he discovered “through the media” that Machado was subject to an international arrest warrant on drug-trafficking and fraud allegations. 

“I panicked. I never imagined something like this could happen to me in my life,” he admitted.

“I had absolutely no idea, and never did, about these alleged illicit activities by Mr Machado, which only became public long after my contractual relationship had ended,” Espert said.

He denied any criminal intent on his part. “I may have sinned in being naïve, but I have never been a criminal.”

Espert attacked Grabois for “recycling” a “dirty campaign” from four years ago and for “dragging in his family” to justify alleged growth in his assets.

Espert said the boost in cash and assets was in fact due to an inheritance of a plot of farmland from his father, who died in 2018.

The under-fire lawmaker won the support of President Javier Milei, who posted on social media that the corruption allegations are “a filthy and crude operation orchestrated by Kirchnerism.”

Espert’s video was released after the La Nación newspaper published images of an accounting ledger prepared by Bank of America that showed the lawmaker had received the US$200,000 transfer. 

The La Libertad Avanza lawmaker had initially refused to comment on reports of the transaction. 

The documentation was obtained by the Argentine media outlet from official US databases and was included as evidence in the trial held in Texas in which Debra Mercer-Erwin, Machado's partner, was convicted in 2023.

The text coincides with the information used by Grabois to file his complaint against Espert in the federal court of San Isidro. The US bank's accounting records add details about the entities through which the money passed until the transfer order to the LLA lawmaker.

La Nación was able to cross-check the Texas state court files containing the transfer to Espert among thousands of accounting records. It dates back to January 22, 2020, before it was revealed that Machado was wanted by the US justice system.

In addition to Espert's name, the documents include the code N28FM, which corresponds to the registration number of the private plane that Machado lent to the lamaker to use during his 2019 presidential campaign.

– TIMES/NA