Argentine soccer body has poured millions into Miami. FBI wants to know why

While Argentina’s storied soccer team has reached the World Cup quarterfinals, federal authorities have been investigating the Argentine Football Association for possible fraud and money laundering stemming from hundreds of millions of dollars in bank transactions linked to the United States, according to two law-enforcement sources familiar with the probe in Washington and Miami.

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The FBI is leading the investigation into the financial operations of the Argentine soccer body, headed by President Claudio Tapia, who was in Miami for the country’s victory over Cape Verde last week. Argentina faces Switzerland in the quarterfinals on Saturday in Kansas City, Missouri.

La Nación, the Argentine newspaper that broke the story on Wednesday, reported that the FBI is probing how the AFA moved more than $300 million to banks and companies in South Florida and elsewhere.

The Argentine newspaper reported that during the match against Cape Verde, FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors questioned Argentine sports businessman Guillermo Tofoni. The FBI is reportedly seeking evidence about AFA’s operations under the leadership of Tapia and Treasurer Pablo Toviggino, focusing on the association’s relationship with TourProdEnter LLC, a South Florida company that has handled the AFA’s overseas commercial agreements with sponsors such as Adidas.

The FBI and prosecutors are zeroing in on AFA sponsorship payments that were made through Aventura-based TourProdEnter and were believed to be funneled through remittance companies in South Florida to the association and its top executives in Argentina for their personal use over the past four years, sources familiar with the investigation told the Miami Herald.

Normally, the AFA sponsors’ payments were made directly to the association in Argentina, with a substantial portion of the money then distributed to youth soccer clubs throughout the South American country. But sources said that traditional payment system changed after Argentina won the World Cup in 2022, leading to the AFA’s relationship with TourProdEnter, the association’s exclusive international commercial agent. It had incorporated as a Florida business in August 2021.

The AFA could not be immediately reached for comments.

The soccer association — featuring the Argentine national team’s superstar, Lionel Messi, who also plays for Inter Miami — has a significant footprint in the Miami area. In late 2023, the organization opened an office in Wynwood for the 2024 Copa America and the 2026 World Cup. In addition, the AFA has spearheaded two South Florida training facilities: One opened last month in North Bay Village with a FIFA-approved soccer field, four multipurpose athletic fields, racket sport courts and a walking path. The other is a planned renovation of Goodlet Park in Hialeah.

FBI questions key witness

The FBI’s questioning of Tofoni, the Argentine businessman who once handled sponsorship deals with the AFA, centered on how the association structured its international commercial agreements and whether its transactions involving U.S.-based banks and companies might have broken U.S law by concealing potentially illicit funds and their purpose.

Meanwhile, Tapia remains in the United States as Argentina continues its 2026 FIFA World Cup run. Argentine courts gave Tapia permission to travel despite facing charges at home over his alleged mismanagement of tax and Social Security funds totaling more than 19 billion Argentine pesos ($12.7 million). This is unrelated to the AFA investigation in Miami.

In the United States, no formal charges have been filed in connection with the AFA probe. No charges have brought in Argentina, either.

On Wednesday, the FBI’s Miami field office declined to comment about the probe or its existence.

In March, the Miami Herald reported on the AFA’s link to several “virtual offices” in Miami-Dade County. One is for TourProdEnter in Aventura.

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According to confidential banking records and corporate documents reviewed by the Miami Herald, the Aventura-based company is at the center of a sprawling financial network connected to Argentina’s top soccer authority.

READ MORE: Miami shell companies linked to $260 million Argentine soccer scandal

“We are talking about at least $260 million … and it’s a provisional figure that will grow,” said Nicolás Pizzi, who is an investigative journalist for the Argentine newspaper La Nación and broke the original story on the soccer scandal this year. Pizzi spoke with the Herald in March at a Miami forum organized by the Inter-American Institute for Democracy.

The scandal has expanded into an international investigation, placing Miami at the center of a complex web of shell companies, offshore transfers and opaque financial flows that might have deceived U.S. banks about the potentially illicit nature of the funds and how they would be used. At its core lies a familiar pattern: money moving quickly, obscured ownership and oversight struggling to keep pace.

But some of the most revealing details uncovered by La Nación go beyond corporate structures and bank transfers — and into how the money was allegedly spent.

According to the Argentine newspaper, the AFA paid $340,000 to the family of a so-called “spiritual guide” who traveled with the national team to major tournaments, including the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and Copa América in Miami in 2024. Argentina won both championships.

The payments — 17 transfers of $20,000 each — were made to the son of José Almaraz, a former player described as a spiritual guide close to AFA leadership. Almaraz’s role was never formally defined, but he was believed by top officials to bring good luck, and all of his travel expenses were covered.

The same reporting identified additional questionable transfers, including $468,000 sent to a company linked to AFA Treasurer Toviggino, $40,000 paid to his business partner and $2.3 million routed to a U.S.-registered company tied to an individual with no clear financial profile.

Taken together — along with $42 million routed through Florida shell companies and at least $16.5 million in luxury spending — investigators have traced roughly $90 million in potentially irregular uses of funds to date.

Because the transactions involved American banks and Florida-registered entities, the case has drawn the attention of U.S. authorities. Investigators are examining whether any laws were violated, including those related to money laundering or financial disclosure, as cross-border cooperation between U.S. and Argentine agencies continues.

Legal experts caution that cases of this scale — spanning multiple countries and financial systems — can take years to resolve.

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This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 7:37 PM.