Argentinian federal authorities conducted more than 30 raids across the City of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires province and Santa Fe as part of an investigation.
The inquiry is related to a transnational criminal network accused of recruiting gamblers to launder money through Las Vegas casinos.
The operation was ordered by National Economic Criminal Court No. 2 under Judge Pablo Yadarola and carried out by the Argentinian Federal Police’s Department of Intelligence against Organized Crime and Department of Special Investigations, at the request of prosecutor Emilio Guerberoff. Investigators identified 48 individuals linked to the case.
According to sources tied to the investigation, the organization was allegedly led by player representative Maximiliano Román Palermo, alongside his father, Juan Carlos Palermo. Authorities believe the group used gambling tourism in Las Vegas between 2024 and 2025 as a cover for currency smuggling, capital flight and money laundering.
Juan Carlos Palermo had previously admitted involvement in a similar 2023 scheme in which money from foreign gamblers was allegedly transferred through unlicensed money exchange operations into Nevada casinos.
Investigators said the structure recruited individuals with valid US visas, covered all travel expenses and offered participants fixed payments. Once at Resorts World Las Vegas, recruits were allegedly instructed to open bank accounts, obtain casino credit, gamble and hand over any winnings to members of the organization. Losses, meanwhile, remained registered as debts under the gamblers’ names.
Authorities said participants were monitored at blackjack tables by members of the network. One source close to the case told local media the operation was “not a series of isolated incidents, but a coordinated structure.” Another source alleged recruits were “forced to take out credit, gamble it and hand over the winnings to the leaders of the criminal group.”
Investigators believe the cash was later brought into Argentina undeclared and funneled into financial, real estate and food industry operations. The same bank accounts were also allegedly used to transfer capital out of the United States into tax havens.
Journalist Quique Felman and former footballers Sergio Berti, José “Turu” Flores, Sergio Zárate and Norberto Ortega Sánchez are considered victims in the Argentine proceedings, although all five also face legal action in Nevada’s Clark County District Court.
Resorts World Las Vegas is seeking $501,000 from Berti, $500,500 from Flores, $1m from Zárate, $626,000 from Ortega Sánchez and $300,000 from Felman.
During the raids, agents seized Argentinian pesos, US dollars and other foreign currencies, as well as several vehicles. Among them was an ambulance allegedly used to transport large sums of cash through a medical clinic operating in the Buenos Aires neighborhoods of Villa Crespo and Vicente López.
Investigators said the case remains under judicial secrecy and that additional measures have not been ruled out in the coming weeks.
Felman was detained for 12 days
