Two new pieces of evidence deepen the judicial case against Elías Piccirillo in Argentina’s currency-scheme probe

Two fresh evidentiary measures have complicated the legal situation of financier Elías Piccirillo, who is being held over an alleged fake police operation against his former partner Francisco Hauque. For PSPs, FX desks, and high-risk acquirers, the case matters because it points again to the familiar combination of exchange houses, shell ownership, and paperwork used to access official dollars under Argentina’s currency controls.

1. Judge Eugenia Capuchetti received a Gendarmería Nacional report showing that the exchange agency Marvic carried out financial operations with Clover. In those exchanges, investigators found “a computer with an IP address” registered to relatives of Piccirillo, according to judicial sources cited by Clarín.
2. The investigation, which began in 2021, centers on transactions carried out under an exception to Argentina’s currency controls that allowed access to official U.S. dollars from the Central Bank to settle previous debts. The court suspects that much of the activity relied on fake deeds, which is the kind of documentation issue that tends to turn a payments or FX file into a criminal one very quickly.
3. Gendarmería said Marvic “operated with the following companies, with the purpose of obtaining U.S. dollars”: Centro de Inversiones Concordia S.R.L.; Sur Finanzas Group S.A.; Cambio San Isidro; Cambio San Pedro; Cambio Forex; Clover Alliance; Rosario Cambio; Super Cambio; El Dorado; and Fenus, among others. Marvic was reportedly registered in the names of people with no resources, which investigators suspect meant straw owners.
4. In a separate statement to prosecutor Franco Picardi, Marcelo Leguizamón, alias “Pan Dulce,” confirmed that he transported U.S. dollars from Piccirillo’s offices to the home of Piccirillo’s former partner Martín Migueles. Picardi said Leguizamón, on a motorcycle, handled errands and cash pickups and deliveries to and from different financial firms.
5. Leguizamón said he moved bundles of cash at least twice from the office of Piccirillo’s secretary to Migueles, and also carried out other errands. The relationship showed up in conversations found on Migueles’ phone, which investigators said reflected a long-standing relationship and a high degree of trust between the two.

Piccirillo, known as “El Rey del Blue” and the former second husband of Jesica Cirio, is also tied to a third case before Judge María Servini and prosecutor Carlos Stornelli involving similar currency-control maneuvers. Hauque was later released, while Piccirillo was charged and detained. In the broader case, Piccirillo and Migueles also appear linked to Arg Exchange, among other exchange agencies under review by different judges.