Carlos Molinari

Carlos Juan Molinari is an Argentine businessman and real-estate developer who runs a firm called Real Estate Investments (REI) Sociedad Fiduciaria, also known as Rei Fiduciaria. He also runs many other firms in Argentina, the U.S., and elsewhere, and resides in Buenos Aires and Miami.

Molinari described himself in 2011 during a brief foray into electoral politics as “a businessman who believes in social justice, Hudson Park is “an exclusive gated community". It includes houses, a condo-hotel, and shops, all built at an investment of around $30 million.” In addition, he has served as an officer of several now-inactive U.S. entities, such as the Americas Real Estate Investments Inc., American Condo Hotel Group, Miami Wolf Soccer Team Inc., MDJ Housing Industries Corp., Argentine Construction Group LLC, and National Argentine American Foundation, Inc.

In addition to Hudson Park, Molinari has constructed a hotel-condominium development, La Aldea de Pilar, and a project called “La Mansión,” a complex of “VIP towers” in the historical district of Quilmes. Noting that all three of these projects are located in areas governed by Kirchnerist politicians, a journalist for Perfil observed that “politics often helps one find more and better opportunities.”

In October 2012, it was reported that Molinari wanted “to create a new airline in forty-five days.” He was in negotiations to buy seven aircraft from the defunct Uruguayan airline Pluna, which was in bankruptcy proceedings, and re-employ most of its 700 former employees. He presented Homero Guerrero, secretary to the Uruguayan president, with a plan to purchase the aircraft for close to $130 million and form a Uruguayan-based airline called Alas Sudamericanas, at an initial total investment of $190 million, that would be in the air within 45 days. He even met with President Mujica of Uruguay. But the plan did not work out. Molinari complained that the issue had been “politicized.” He said, however, that he was carrying out feasibility studies aimed at the creation of his own Uruguayan airline, explaining that Uruguay ”is a strategic point in Latin America.”

Molinari is a founding member of the regional business platform Developers & Builders Alliance (DBA), which has offices in the U.S. and throughout Latin America.

Political activities In 2011, Molinari ran as a deputy when his friend Mario Ishii challenged the candidacy of Daniel Scioli for re-election as governor of the Buenos Aires province. "We are a possible alternative to the management of the current provincial leader,” Molinari told an interviewer. “We are able to see an alternative for the people of Buenos Aires with my practicality and with the ideological capacity of Mario Ishii.” Ishii and Molinari failed to win, despite a reported expenditure by Molinari of 6 million pesos.

Obama connection Molinari is friendly with Miami businessman Freddy Balsera, who led the Barack Obama campaign’s outreach effort to Latinos and is head of the Hispanic Council of the Democratic Party in the U.S. Together, Molinari and Balsera have been involved together in a business venture involving “social housing.”

K money trail scandal

The scandal erupted as a result of the April 14, 2013, episode of the investigative journalism program Periodismo para todos (Journalism for All), hosted by Jorge Lanata. The episode, entitled “The K money trail,” included hidden-camera footage on which Leonardo Fariña, the husband of famous model Karina Jelinek, described in detail the financial manoeuvres whereby Lázaro Báez, a businessman close to the Kirchners, managed to transfer about 55 million euros from Argentina to Switzerland. Fariña had aided in this money-laundering operation, and it was established that the link between Báez and Fariña was Molinari, who was described as the “protector” of Fariña, a childhood friend of his son Martin. “I'm a businessman,” Molinari said. “I do business.”

In late April 2013, Molinari was violently assaulted by five men in the Palermo section of Buenos Aires who took several items from him, including his Audi A7 truck, which was found abandoned shortly thereafter. It was suggested that the beating and robbery of Molinari were the work of “mobsters” sending a “message.”

Fariña testified in June 2013 that he was an auditor for Austral Construcciones, a firm owned by Báez, and that he worked for Molinari, who paid him a monthly salary of 70,000 pesos. Also in June 2013, Maximiliano Acosta told a court that Molinari and his son Mathias had presented themselves to him as project developers and as representatives of Báez and his son.

It was reported in July 2013 that Molinari was “in trouble” in the U.S. courts. He was sought in connection with a Miami trial, Carlos Germán Díaz vs Global Development Consultant Inc, in which he was named as a defendant, and with a New York case, brought by Kenneth Welt against Diego Molinari, Deborah Batista, and Amadeo Molinari of Moll Systems Corporation, that involved a payment to a Panamanian firm, Tensho Media.

In September 2013, federal judge Sebastián Casanello ordered a raid on Molinari’s firm Rei Fiduciaria, in order to determine the legitimacy of Fariña’s claim that his lavish lifestyle could be accounted for by his income from Rei Fudiciaria.

Relations with Fariña Molinari has been described as the man who “invented” the husband of Karina Jelinek, “since it was he who gave her the famous Ferrari” and paid for the couple’s wedding. Molinari said that Fariña had been recommended to him by a lawyer in La Plata. “He proposed to me the business of high-end car rental, and bought five cars, some on behalf of the company and others in my name,” said Molinari. “The idea was good, because they were cars that were not in Argentina.” At that time, Fariña had not yet become involved with Jelinek and “seemed to be a person with an ordinary life.” Molinari said he paid Fariña “a per diem of six thousand dollars and also had a stake in the [car-rental] company.” After Fariña and Jelinek became a couple, Molinari disliked the negative press that the couple generated and encouraged Fariña to lower his profile and to clarify that his car was company-owned and that he was not a millionaire. Molinari said he had paid for Fariña’s and Jelinek’s wedding, a total outlay of 480,000 pesos, in order to promote the car-rental firm, some of whose wares were on display at the wedding.

Elaskar testified that he knew Fariña through Molinari’s son Matías. The elder Molinari, said Elaskar, had given his wife an Audi as a wedding gift.

Personal life Molinari has five sons. He had a son with Lucrecia Silva, a former ballet dancer and former TV host and the current owner of a baby-clothing store in Concordia, in which Molinari reportedly invested. Their son’s christening party was held at Club Progreso in 2012.

Performing artist Marixa Balli stated in 2013 that Molinari had been her CD producer and lover in Miami many years earlier. She also said that he had paid for her most recent trip to Miami.