More than two million dollars hidden across multiple properties in different currencies
En Argentina, la investigación por el robo de equipos en una empresa estatal de satélites derivó en algo mucho más perturbador: el arresto de Facundo Leal, ex presidente de Arsat, con drogas sintéticas, cocaína, ketamina y más de dos millones de dólares en efectivo repartidos entre sus propiedades. Lo que comenzó como una denuncia administrativa bajo el gobierno de Milei se convirtió en un espejo que refleja una pregunta más antigua y más incómoda sobre el poder público: cómo ciertos funcionarios construyen fortunas invisibles mientras administran lo que pertenece a todos.
- Una denuncia por equipos tecnológicos desaparecidos en Arsat se transformó en una investigación federal que sacudió múltiples ciudades y docenas de propiedades.
- En el departamento porteño de Leal, los allanamientos revelaron una acumulación difícil de explicar: 650.000 dólares en efectivo, monedas de seis países distintos, y cientos de gramos de drogas que sugieren algo más que consumo personal.
- La figura de Leal complica el relato: nunca abandonó el Estado, sino que se desplazó lateralmente de Arsat a Orsna, acumulando cargos y permaneciendo en nómina mientras la investigación avanzaba.
- El caso ya no gira en torno a un solo individuo —los allanamientos apuntan a una red más amplia de decisiones sobre contratos y adquisiciones dentro de la empresa estatal.
- Leal, abogado mendocino de 42 años, casado y padre de dos hijas, fue detenido e interrogado por jueces federales en San Isidro, mientras la justicia evalúa si la corrupción se extiende más profundo en la institución.
Una denuncia presentada por el gobierno de Javier Milei sobre equipos tecnológicos desaparecidos en Arsat, la empresa estatal de satélites, terminó abriendo una investigación de proporciones inesperadas. Al tirar del hilo, el juez federal Lino Mirabelli y el fiscal Fernando Domínguez encontraron indicios de corrupción en los contratos de la compañía, lo que desencadenó una docena de allanamientos simultáneos en varias ciudades.
El centro de la tormenta es Facundo Leal, un abogado mendocino de 42 años que presidió Arsat durante tres años, atravesando sin interrupciones los gobiernos de Alberto Fernández y Javier Milei. Lo que los investigadores encontraron en sus propiedades desafía cualquier explicación salarial: en su departamento de Palermo, 650.000 dólares en efectivo, dos millones de pesos, divisas de seis países —incluyendo chelines tanzanos— y una cantidad de ketamina, MDMA y cocaína que sugería distribución antes que consumo. En una propiedad en Mendoza, otros 1,7 millones de dólares guardados lejos de la capital.
Leal nunca había salido del Estado. Tras dejar Arsat, se incorporó a la Orsna, el organismo regulador del sistema aeroportuario nacional, mientras seguía figurando en la nómina permanente de la empresa satelital. Su trayectoria técnica en aviación y sistemas satelitales le había abierto puertas durante años, pero ninguna credencial profesional explica la magnitud de lo hallado en sus hogares.
Detenido e interrogado por la justicia federal, Leal enfrenta ahora un proceso que ya lo excede. Los allanamientos apuntaron a múltiples personas, y la investigación se ha desplazado desde el robo de equipos hacia preguntas más profundas: cómo se adjudican contratos, cómo desaparece el patrimonio público, y cuántos más dentro de Arsat sabían lo que estaba ocurriendo.
A federal investigation that began with allegations of stolen equipment at Argentina's state satellite company has unraveled into something far larger—and far stranger. On Wednesday, authorities executing search warrants at multiple properties belonging to Facundo Leal, the former president of Arsat, discovered synthetic drugs, cocaine, ketamine, and more than two million dollars in cash scattered across his homes. Leal, a 42-year-old lawyer from Mendoza who spent three years running the company under both the Fernández and Milei administrations, was arrested and questioned by federal judges in San Isidro.
The investigation had started simply enough. When Javier Milei's government took office, it filed a complaint about technological equipment missing from Arsat. That complaint became the thread that, when pulled, began to unravel a more complicated picture. Federal Judge Lino Mirabelli and prosecutor Fernando Domínguez opened the case, and as they dug deeper, they found hints of something else entirely—possible corruption woven into Arsat's contracts. That discovery triggered a dozen raids across multiple cities, including at Leal's residences.
What investigators found in his Palermo apartment reads like an inventory of contradictions. In a single location, they recovered 650,000 dollars in cash, two million pesos, and foreign currency from six different countries—Uruguayan pesos, Mexican pesos, Colombian pesos, Brazilian reals, euros, and even Tanzanian shillings. Alongside the money lay 300 grams of ketamine, MDMA crystals, more than 70 MDMA pills, and cocaine. They also seized a scale, ziplock bags, consumption utensils, and a vaporizer filled with cannabis oil. The accumulation suggested not casual use but something closer to distribution.
Leal's other properties told a similar story. According to his own financial declarations, he owns at least seven additional properties in Mendoza. In one of them, authorities found 1.7 million dollars—more cash, hidden away in a province far from the capital. The scale of the discovery raised immediate questions: how does a government official accumulate this much currency, in this many denominations, across this many locations?
What makes the case more complicated is that Leal never actually left government. He stepped down from his role as Arsat president, yes, but he moved sideways into another position—director of the National Airport System Regulatory Agency, known as Orsna. He remained on Arsat's permanent payroll. His career had been built on technical expertise in aviation and satellite systems; he had worked years earlier at the National Aviation Administration alongside Rodolfo Gabrielli, a former Peronist governor from Mendoza, which gave him the credentials to move between agencies. But credentials alone do not explain what investigators found in his homes.
Leal is married with two daughters. He was detained and interrogated. The case now extends beyond him—the raids touched multiple properties and multiple people, suggesting that whatever happened at Arsat involved more than one person's decisions. The investigation has shifted from a simple theft complaint to something that touches the heart of how contracts are awarded, how equipment disappears, and how officials at the center of state companies accumulate wealth that bears no obvious relationship to their salaries. What comes next will depend on what the evidence shows about who else knew, who else benefited, and whether the corruption runs deeper into the institution itself.
Notable Quotes
Leal, a 42-year-old lawyer from Mendoza, was arrested and questioned by federal judges after investigators discovered the cash and drugs during raids on his properties.— Federal investigation records
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would a government official keep that much cash in multiple currencies across different properties?
That's the question investigators are asking. It suggests either he was moving money to hide its origin, or he was holding it for someone else, or both. The variety of currencies is particularly telling—it's not the behavior of someone with a normal salary.
How does someone in his position even access that kind of money without raising flags?
That's where the Arsat connection becomes crucial. If contracts are being steered, if equipment is being diverted and sold, if procurement is being manipulated—those are the mechanisms. A government official with authority over contracts has leverage.
But he moved to a different agency. Did that distance him from Arsat?
Officially, yes. But he stayed on the payroll. And more importantly, the investigation suggests the corruption was already embedded in the contracts before he left. The raids weren't just about him—they touched a dozen locations and multiple people.
What does it mean that he worked under both Fernández and Milei?
It means this didn't happen in a vacuum or under one administration's watch. He survived the transition between governments, which either means he was valuable to both, or the problems at Arsat predate the political change.
Is there a chance this was just personal drug dealing?
Possible, but unlikely to be the whole story. The scale of the cash, the institutional position, the multiple properties—these point to something systemic. The drugs might be part of it, or they might be separate. But the money and the government contracts are connected.