With a last-minute incident, "Fred" Machado was extradited to the United States

Businessman Federico "Fred" Machado was the first passenger to board United Airlines flight UA 818 last Wednesday. He was escorted by a special team of U.S. Marshals to the United States, where he is under investigation for drug trafficking, money laundering, and fraud, after the Argentine courts approved his extradition.

The flight departed at 10:05 PM, but there was uncertainty until the very last minute . Federal agents didn't want to take two cell phones, a laptop, and memory cards, among other things. All of that had been seized by the courts when he was arrested in April 2021 in Río Negro.

Those items could contain important information for the case. In fact, the Texas Justice Department, where Machado is under investigation, was requesting them. However, the Marshals claimed they only had orders to transport Machado.

Everything happened just hours before the flight. The United States embassy in Argentina intervened, and Machado was extradited to the US along with all the technological equipment.

Machado is under investigation in the United States for a pyramid scheme involving the sale of airplanes. He is also being investigated for drug trafficking and money laundering. His partner, Debra Lynn Mercer-Erwin , was sentenced last year to 16 years in prison.

In April 2021, he was arrested in Río Negro, his home province, on an international arrest warrant. A year later, Neuquén Federal Judge Gustavo Villanueva approved his extradition. “They caught the wrong enemy. I'm not a drug trafficker , I have nothing to do with drugs, I never had anything to do with drugs, I never associated with them. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the people I trusted, I thought were the good guys, but they were the bad guys,” Machado said at that trial.

The extradition was confirmed in early October by the Supreme Court of Justice and ratified by the government of Javier Milei. With the Supreme Court's ruling, his house arrest was revoked, and he was held in a Federal Police facility in Río Negro until last weekend when he was transferred to Buenos Aires to await his flight.

Machado gained national prominence due to her connection with José Luis Espert, a national deputy on leave. In 2019, she financed Espert's presidential campaign with 36 flights on her private planes—which they took together—and the use of a pickup truck. These contributions were never declared by Espert's party.

And this year it became known that in 2020 Machado transferred $200,000 to Espert for a one million dollar contract to advise him on the refinancing of "Minas del Pueblo", a mining company owned by the businessman in Guatemala and identified by the United States as part of the drug trafficking circuit.

Espert never fully acknowledged his relationship with Machado until it became public. He had to resign his candidacy for first national deputy for "La Libertad Avanza" in the province of Buenos Aires, his presidency of the Budget Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, and he requested a leave of absence as a national legislator until December 10, when his term expires.

For these actions, Espert is charged in two criminal cases for alleged money laundering related to drug trafficking. One case concerns flights during the 2019 campaign, and the second, following a complaint filed by Peronist leader Juan Grabois , involves the transfer of $200,000. The congressman, currently on leave, had his home and his congressional office raided, and his cell phone was seized for forensic analysis.

Espert's defense team, led by lawyers Alejandro Freeland and Santiago Kent , requested the dismissal of the case concerning the $200,000 transfer. They filed the request this Friday and criticized the delay in their appointment.

"We request the annulment of this case from its very origin due to the concealment of the appointment of our client's defense attorneys, with the consequent impediment to exercising the rights that an accused person has from the first moment they are accused in our procedural and constitutional system," they stated in their written statement, which Clarín obtained.

The case was under seal until last Thursday due to the investigative measures ordered by Federal Judge Lino Mirabelli of San Isidro and Federal Prosecutor Federico Domínguez . These measures included the search of Espert's home.

In that document, the defense criticized Grabois for filing the criminal complaint and pointed out that Espert did not launder money from Machado's drug trafficking. They did so with irony: "But Grabois, Mr. Grabois, not only believes that Espert knew about it, but that he actively participated in this international illicit organization, although he anticipates that the investigation will reveal his role or involvement. We can tell you in advance: perhaps he served him mate on one, two, or three plane trips they shared ."