Espert’s assets grew after ‘Fred’ Machado’s campaign contributions

In the sworn affidavit declaring his assets submitted by José Luis Espert when he became a national deputy in 2021, there is something striking: his company Varianza SA is recorded as having been created in July 2020. Official records, however, show it was actually established in December 2019, right at the close of that year's presidential campaign in which the economist had ran as a candidate.

The difference in dates is not the only point to be reviewed. That very same year, Espert declared an unusual jump in assets: he bought a 470-square-metre house in San Isidro, a brand-new BMW 240i coupé and inherited a property in Pergamino.

This took place at a time that the lawmaker was receiving campaign contributions he never disclosed to electoral courts.

According to sources who were once members of his political space, the financing of Espert's 2019 campaign had a clear star behind the scenes: Federico 'Fred' Machado, an aviation entrepreneur now detained in Argentina and wanted by US courts for charges related to fraud and drug-dealing.

Machado not only gave cash, he provided logistics: an armoured Jeep Grand Cherokee and a private jet in which Espert flew at least 35 times, as shown by a court file attributed to the chambers of Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi, as published by the Clarin newspaper.

Accounting books seized in Texas add a central element: a US$ 200,000 transfer in the name of Espert, dated February 1, 2020, linked to Aircraft Guarantee Corp, a company singled out by US prosecutors as a cover for drug-dealing operations. According to reporting by La Nación, the operation was conducted on January 22, 2020.

In numbers, Machado’s contributions to the campaign may have been as high as US$700,000, according to sources. None of those figures shows up in Espert’s sworn statements of assets.