Milei backs Espert over Fred Machado drug-trafficking accusations

President Javier Milei defended former La Libertad Avanza (LLA) lawmaker José Luis Espert, who withdrew from the legislative race in 2025 after being accused of receiving money from an alleged drug trafficker, after United States prosecutors dropped charges against the man.  Argentine businessman Federico “Fred” Machado was facing charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and tax fraud in the U.S. when the scandal broke out, leading to Espert dropping out from the congressional race after U.S. investigators revealed that the libertarian politician had received US$200,000 from a trust owned in part by Machado in 2020. On Sunday, La Nación newspaper reported that Machado reached an agreement with prosecutors to drop the drug trafficking charges in exchange for pleading guilty to money laundering and tax fraud, a deal that now must be accepted by a judge to be completed. The arrangement would mean that Machado avoids facing a jury trial for drug trafficking. After the news broke, Milei took to social media to claim Espert was the victim of an “infamous political and media operation” against him that forced him to drop out of the congressional race. The accusations are similar to the ones the president makes to defend his Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni, who is also in hot water over an investigation for alleged illicit enrichment. Adorni was found to have purchased two undeclared properties and made several expensive trips since he became a government official in 2023. The judiciary believes such large expenditures do not match his declared income. Milei accuses the press President Milei wrote a lengthy X post on Sunday saying that journalists “destroyed” Espert’s reputation, “pushed him to ostracism, and aimed to turn him into a criminal” due to the coverage of the ex lawmaker’s links with Machado. After U.S. investigators revealed in September 2025 that Espert had received the US$200,000 linked to Machado, the former lawmaker said it had been a payment for providing services as an economist to a mining company owned by Machado, a job he wasn’t able to fulfill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Milei, Espert was “defamed” and “his life was destroyed” only because “he defended the ideas of freedom,” and demanded that journalists and politicians publicly apologize. While Milei said that the U.S. judiciary has now accepted Machado’s innocence plea regarding the drug trafficking charges, this has not yet been formalized, as judge Bill Davis will address this on Monday. “With José Luis Espert, ALWAYS on the side of truth and freedom,” Milei said. The president’s comments come after months of silence about Espert, and amid the scandal involving Adorni, which — according to many pollsters — has contributed to a large drop in his popularity. Fred Machado’s judicial situation Milei did not mention in his X post that Machado, currently in prison in Oklahoma after being extradited to the U.S. in November, pleaded guilty to the charges of money laundering and tax fraud in a deal with the case’s prosecutors. While he had initially said he did not commit those crimes, he has now changed his strategy in exchange for having the drug trafficking charges dropped and getting a shorter sentence, according to La Nación reporter Hugo Alconada Mon. Machado’s hearing will take place in a Texas court as part of a case that also investigated his business partner, Debra Lynn Mercer-Erwin, who was sentenced to 16 years of prison for drug trafficking in 2024.