Argentina’s UIF blocks Point Limits SRL, a Tucumán gambling company tied to the Ale clan

Argentina’s financial intelligence unit has blocked Point Limits SRL from registering as a reporting entity, which in practice means the company cannot keep operating in the gambling sector under that framework. For PSPs and acquirers, the useful part is simple: this is another reminder that licensing, AML registration, and the ownership history behind a merchant can matter just as much as the current terminal volume.

1. In December 2017, the Federal Oral Court of Tucumán handed down a landmark conviction against members of the Ale family, a group long linked to clandestine gambling and extortion in Argentina’s interior. Rubén Eduardo Ale, “La Chancha,” former president of San Martín de Tucumán, and his older brother Adolfo Ángel, “El Mono,” each received 10 years in prison as leaders of an illicit association.
2. The court case involved 13 convictions and 3 acquittals. The UIF’s role was central at trial: its report detailed nearly 40 million pesos in financial maneuvers, a long list of properties, more than 100 vehicles including cars and trucks, and 72 firearms valued at more than 400,000 pesos.
3. Now the UIF, under lawyer Matías Álvarez, has moved against Point Limits SRL, a company set up in 2011 in the capital of Tucumán and historically linked to “El Mono” Ale. The company controlled a series of venues, was raided in the case that ended in the brothers’ convictions, and prosecutors treated it as a possible money laundering front, though it kept operating.
4. The UIF denied Point Limits’ registration as a Sujeto Obligado (reporting entity) and blocked it from obtaining the registration needed to continue operating in the gambling sector. According to the source, during 2025 and 2026 the company made several filings to regularize its status and secure the certificate, but the UIF’s North Regional Agency found various irregularities in the documents submitted.
5. The same clan had already drawn national attention over the disappearance of Marita Verón. Susana Trimarco, Verón’s mother, identified “La Chancha” as the main responsible party for the kidnapping and disappearance, though he was never convicted for that crime. In 2012, the mass acquittal of 13 defendants in the Verón case triggered a national scandal.