Argentina Football Association Faces FBI Money Laundering Investigation Amid High Stakes 2026 World Cup Campaign

Argentina's footballers are chasing back-to-back World Cup titles while the body that runs their sport is now the subject of a US federal inquiry over allegations of money laundering through the American banking system.

The Argentine Football Association, known as the AFA, is being investigated by US prosecutors into whether hundreds of millions of dollars moved through American banks amounted to money laundering, wire fraud or tax crimes. The investigation, confirmed to Argentine newspaper La Nación by two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, runs parallel to a separate Argentine case that has already seen the AFA's headquarters raided and its president and treasurer formally charged.

Lionel Messi and his teammates remain unaffected on the pitch, but the timing, with Argentina through to the World Cup quarter-finals, has thrust the federation's finances into the global spotlight.

Inside the FBI's Preliminary Probe

US Department of Justice prosecutors and FBI agents have begun taking sworn testimony from individuals connected to the AFA's financial dealings in the United States, according to reporting by an Argentinian publication. Investigators are trying to establish how the federation, led by president Claudio 'Chiqui' Tapia, channelled money through American banks.

One of those interviewed was Argentine businessman Guillermo Tofoni, who sat for a roughly three-hour videoconference with federal prosecutors and FBI agents in Washington, DC and Miami. Tofoni declined to confirm or deny the meeting.

Three federal prosecutors are named as leading the inquiry: Patrick Gushue and Christopher Ting in Washington, DC, and Michael Berger of the Southern District of Florida. Berger previously helped secure a money-laundering conviction against former Ecuadorian comptroller Carlos Ramón Pólit Faggioni.

The Florida Company at the Centre of the Case

Investigators are focused on TourProdEnter, LLC, a Florida-registered company incorporated in August 2021 that the AFA appointed as its collection agent for international sponsorship and commercial contracts. The firm is run by theatre producer and former Buenos Aires provincial legislator Javier Faroni and his wife, Erica Gillette.

Banking records reviewed by La Nación show that Faroni and Gillette moved funds through accounts at five US institutions: Citibank, Synovus, Bank of America, JP Morgan and PNC Bank.

Through those accounts, TourProdEnter handled at least $260 million (£206 million) in AFA revenue, though only part of it can be directly traced to identifiable operating expenses. A further $57 million (£45 million) was distributed to companies and beneficiaries whose economic justification does not appear in the documentation, including transfers to entities controlled by individuals who, according to official Argentine records, received state welfare payments.

Domestic Legal Troubles

The US inquiry follows months of legal trouble for the AFA at home. On 9 December 2025, federal judge Luis Armella ordered 33 simultaneous raids at 4 am at the AFA's Viamonte headquarters, its Ezeiza training complex, and 17 football clubs, including Racing Club, San Lorenzo, Independiente and Barracas Central, the club founded by Tapia and now run by his son.

The raids stemmed from a case involving financial firm Sur Finanzas and its owner, Ariel Vallejo, whom prosecutors accuse of running a money-laundering structure partly through sponsorship deals with football clubs. Argentina's tax authority, ARCA, had separately accused Sur Finanzas of evading roughly 3,300 million pesos in tax.

The AFA responded with a statement confirming that judicial officials had carried out 'two judicial requirements' at its offices, adding that the federation had 'immediately made itself available' to authorities and handed over all requested documentation. On 26 June 2026, an Argentine appeals court upheld separate criminal charges against the AFA, Tapia and treasurer Pablo Toviggino over the alleged improper withholding of roughly 19,000 million pesos, around $13 million (£10 million), in workers' pension contributions.

Denials, Politics, and the Path Ahead

AFA's 'ambassador' in North America, Tomás Regalado, addressed the allegations at a Miami forum, insisting that investigative measures alone do not establish guilt. No criminal charges have been filed in the US, and the Department of Justice did not respond to La Nación's request for comment.

The US scrutiny has a political backstory. In September 2024, Argentina's then-security ministry under Patricia Bullrich passed US officials information about possible risk factors tied to the AFA. FBI agents concluded at the time there was insufficient basis to open a case, but that calculus shifted after La Nación's own investigation, published from late December 2025 onward, mapped out the corporate and banking network in detail.

Tapia, who required judicial authorisation to travel, is currently in the United States for the World Cup as his federation's finances face their most serious scrutiny yet on both sides of the equator.