Overview
- Judge María Servini imposed a preventive freeze on assets tied to exchange-house owner Elías Piccirillo, his partners and more than 160 currency dealers, matching what investigators say was taken out in cash.
- The ruling describes a two-step play that funneled undocumented pesos into banks, simulated foreign-exchange trades at the official rate, and ended with US$607,432,023 withdrawn over the counter, which drained dollar reserves.
- A forensic report by the court’s DAJUDECO unit details 141.596 billion pesos from 2,765 people and 647 firms routed through 17 exchange houses, with 507.448 million dollars later obtained and pulled out in cash by operators at Stema Cambios and Mega Latina.
- Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli is weighing charges for Central Bank officials over alleged supervisory failures, while a parallel case led by Judge Ariel Lijo and prosecutor Franco Picardi continues to probe related import-authorization dealings.
- The Senate convenes to authorize a US$171 million settlement with holdout creditors and extend Judge Carlos Mahiques’s term, as the ruling bloc in the lower house schedules its own session to undercut an opposition push to question Cabinet chief Manuel Adorni.