The Central Bank deactivated the virtual wallet of the financier linked to the AFA

The Central Bank decided to delist the virtual wallet of Ariel Vallejo, the financier linked to the Argentine Football Association. Among the reasons, the institution chaired by Santiago Bausili stated that Sur Finanzas PSP "submitted sworn declarations late, in which it reported having recorded no operations between July 2025 and August 2026," despite having recorded transfers totaling 393,871 million pesos, according to the official document to which LA NACION had access. This is a new setback for Vallejo, who last week was charged with presumed money laundering in the case being handled by the court in Lomas de Zamora presided over by Tomás Rodríguez Ponte. That case investigates whether Sur Finanzas PSP was used to give an illicit appearance to funds of illicit origin. A large portion of the funds distributed by Sur Finanzas were supposed to be received by football clubs. The BCRA resolution, signed this Friday by the Superintendent of Financial and Foreign Exchange Institutions, Juan Curutchet, directly affects Sur Finanzas PSP, which was registered in the "Payment Service Providers Registry." The first article of the measure begins: "To delist Sur Finanzas PSP SA." In the considerations, Curutchet listed various reasons. He began with legal, technical, and administrative matters and then referred directly to the operation of the virtual wallet, in which Vallejo held 30% of the company's capital, according to the document. The remaining 70% is in the hands of his mother, who acted as a straw person. Ariel Vallejo and Claudio Chiqui TapiaRegarding operations, the resolution states: "The sponsoring financial institutions decided to end their commercial relationship with the company." What does this mean? That Banco Industrial SA closed Sur Finanzas PSP's account in November 2025 and, in the case of Banco Hipotecario SA, where it also holds an account, "the completion of the closure remained subject to judicial measures." And it adds: "By virtue of this, the company reported having closed the payment accounts and notified its clients that they had to withdraw their funds, but it did not provide the necessary documentation to verify the restitution of all balances." The official resolution also notes that it "has recorded no operations as a payment service provider offering payment accounts (PSPCP) since January 2026." Thus, the scenario described by the BCRA combines a "prolonged interruption of activity" with the lack of sponsoring banks for the virtual wallet. Raid on Sur Finanzas offices in the Suipacha galleryCamila GodoyThis adds to other observations about the submission of documents. "In September 2026, it submitted sworn declarations late, in which it reported having recorded no operations between July 2025 and August 2026," the resolution detailed. Despite this, the BCRA added that it observed a "significant volume" of transfers until November of last year at Banco Industrial and until December at Banco Hipotecario. Vallejo now has a period of up to 30 business days to file appeals against Curutchet's decision. The suspicions about Sur Finanzas PSPThe judicial case in Lomas de Zamora originated with a filing by ARCA in November of last year. On that occasion, the DGI's bloodhounds coined the expression "army of little soldiers," alluding to the presumed use of low-income individuals as fronts to move millions. A report to which LA NACION had access listed cases such as that of a category "A" single-tax payer, identified with the initials B. A. In just four months of 2024, he recorded movements in virtual wallets totaling 7,000 million pesos. However, at that time he had no properties in his name and only declared a 2008 car. That is the core of the ARCA complaint: to determine whether Sur Finanzas was used as a vehicle for money laundering. Since the case broke, Vallejo has defended himself and has always denied having an "army of little soldiers." What is still unknown, almost a year after the case began, is the origin of the questioned 818,000 million pesos about which the tax authority alerted. In the charging decision, Judge Rodríguez Ponte deemed it proven that Sur Finanzas PSP, formerly named Neblockchain, evaded taxes by more than 12,200 million pesos. By Nicolás Pizzi, Ignacio Grimaldi