US businessman linked to Argentine football investigated for money laundering

Argentina’s judiciary has launched an investigation into U.S. businessman Foster Gillett over allegations of money laundering. The investigation is linked to transactions with Argentine football club Estudiantes de La Plata, according to national media. The investigation is probing whether the transfer market signing of Cristian Medina, who joined Estudiantes from Boca Juniors in January, involved money laundering. When Medina was signed, Boca Juniors informed the Argentine Football Association (AFA) that it had received the payment to activate the midfielder’s contract release clause from Gillett’s personal account, which is banned by FIFA regulations. The issues were later resolved, and Medina spent the last season playing for Estudiantes. Two other footballers also had problems with Gillett’s financial backing earlier this year. Planned transfers for Vélez Sarsfield’s Valentín Gómez and River Plate’s Rodrigo Villagra also fell through after Gillett failed to secure the funds to pay their contract release clauses. Some outlets reported that Gillett’s Argentine associate, Guillermo Tofoni, was also facing accusations, but the Herald was able to confirm that he is implicated in the case only as part of a request for information from prosecutor Emilio Guerberoff. Foster Gillett’s Estudiantes connection The U.S. businessman was first linked with Estudiantes in December 2024, when the club announced a partnership which was supposed to come with a US$120 million investment. It came at the height of the fight between the AFA and the Milei administration over the issue of private sports corporations (SADs, by their Spanish acronym). The deal drew criticism because it was unclear how it would comply with the AFA’s ban on SADs, what powers it granted to the U.S. businessman, and how he was planning to recoup his investment. You may also be interested in: How Estudiantes nearly became a test site for private sports corporations in Argentine football Around the same time, Gillett also purchased a stake in Uruguay’s Rampla Juniors. The U.S. businessman got the ball rolling with US$1 million, intended to settle the club’s debts and compile a squad that could fight for promotion to the first tier. However, by June, Rampla had failed to win a single game under Gillett’s stewardship and was instead relegated to the Uruguayan third tier.