Federal prosecutor Sergio Mola is not messing around. In the framework of the investigation for illicit enrichment against the former mayor of Lomas de Zamora, Martín Insaurralde, and his ex-wife, Jesica Cirio, the Public Prosecutor’s Office representative is already clear that the bundles of dollars that appeared in the videos recorded by the model in a dressing room belong to the couple. And he will add them to the accusation.
According to judicial sources, Mola estimates that the bills, seen in the images released last June 26, would total about 10 million dollars. Now, the prosecutor seeks to determine what happened to that money: where it is, how it was invested, or if it ended up in the hands of straw men. Therefore, he asked federal judge Luis Armella for a cross-referencing of calls from the phones of Cirio, Insaurralde, and other suspects.
The judicial move generated a flood of nullity requests from the defenses, who opposed the review of their clients’ phones. They alleged violation of privacy and due process. But the prosecution did not back down: it rejected the arguments and insisted on the measure. Judge Armella granted the call cross-referencing, but partially, without including the period after the videos were released. Mola is already preparing new requests.
The objective is to reconstruct the traceability of the money, of which there has been no news for three years. Investigators want to know what it was invested in and if there are straw men who hid those funds. To that end, they are also targeting Cirio’s niece, Priscila Daiana Ferrante, 33, and her ex-partner, Heber Russo.
Russo, who is accused of running a fake invoice mill, has a heavy record. He is alleged to have fraudulently invoiced for nearly 200 million dollars, and among his clients was none other than the Municipality of Lomas de Zamora, during Insaurralde’s administration. Witnesses and defendants have pointed to him as a presumed straw man for the former mayor.
Ferrante, for her part, is linked to 77 properties in Puerto Madero and Miami, more than 200 vehicles, jewelry, and cash. Among the assets are an apartment on Alicia Moreau de Justo at 1800, a unit in the Los Silos building in Palermo, properties in gated communities, luxury cars, and a boat. Also under investigation is a mansion of almost 750 square meters in Banfield Oeste, which is registered in the name of Ferrante and her father, but which the Justice system suspects was bought by Insaurralde for 1.8 million dollars.
Judge Armella has already ordered the lifting of fiscal and banking secrecy for Ferrante to reconstruct her asset evolution between 2014 and 2017. The measure was activated after the appearance of a video, different from Cirio’s, in which a woman is seen alongside bundles of dollars. The requests were sent to ARCA, the Central Bank, the Financial Information Unit, the Real Estate Registry, and the Motor Vehicle Registry.
The judicial hypothesis contemplates two alternatives: that the assets under suspicion belong to Cirio’s asset structure, or that they are related to Heber Russo. Russo awaits an oral trial that is delayed in the federal courts of La Plata, while Ferrante was already acquitted in a previous case, but now the prosecutor has again focused on her assets.
The scandal promises more chapters. Mola seeks to determine what happened among the suspects from the time the videos became known until today. And he does not rule out new charges. Meanwhile, Insaurralde and Cirio remain in the eye of the storm, with 10 million dollars that have not appeared and a network of straw men that is beginning to unravel.
vamo a ver si esta vez le meten preso al chorro de insaurralde y su kioskera diez palos verdes en un placard y la zurda llorando persecusion para mi los jueces complices son una verguenza ojala mola no afloje si no hay condena esto es una joda firme el cuervo 22
Para mí esto es humo puro. Diez palos verdes en un placard y se persigue a Insaurralde, mientras los patrones de la deuda externa se afanan miles de millones. El sistema se caga de risa de nosotros. Basta de gorilada, corporaciones a la hoguera!