The Argentine Football Association (AFA) is being investigated by the FBI for its alleged involvement in money laundering and fraud in the United States of over $300 million, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday.
The FBI and United States federal prosecutors are reportedly looking into the involvement of the reigning World Cup champions in hundreds of millions of dollars flowing through the American financial system and if any violated the law. The probe was first reported by Argentine newspaper La Nación, which stated that investigators are examining commercial and financial agreements tied to the football association’s operations in America.
The FBI declined to comment.
Investigators are focusing on the Miami-based company TourProdEnter LLC, which was created in 2021, according to La Nación. TourProdEnter allegedly acted as a collection agency for the AFA’s commercial contracts. Some of the sponsorship payments came from Adidas and Warner.
La Nación reported that TourProdEnter LLC moved $260 million among Citibank, Synovus, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and PNC Bank. An additional $57 million was transferred without a “clear purpose.”
No charges have been made yet, but La Nación is reporting that federal investigators have begun taking testimonies and gathering financial records.
This is not the first time AFA president Claudio Tapia has faced an investigation in his time in leadership. In December 2025, Argentine authorities raided the AFA headquarters and several soccer clubs as a part of another investigation into potential tax evasion and money laundering beginning in 2024.
Three months later, Tapia was charged with tax evasion and the misappropriation of social security funds. The president was punished with a travel ban and a court-ordered asset freeze.
Tapia was elected in 2017 and has led the country’s football organization throughout its recent success, including the back-to-back Copa América tournament wins in 2021 and 2024, as well as the 2022 World Cup win.
The investigation comes at the beginning of the 2026 World Cup quarterfinals, where soccer star Lionel Messi and Argentina are looking to win back-to-back World Cups and become the first country to do so since Brazil in 1958 and 1962. The off-the-field allegations are not expected to affect the country’s run at the title.
At the time of publication, neither the AFA nor Tapia has commented on the ongoing investigation.
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