Federico Elaskar

Federico Elaskar is an Argentine businessman who has been implicated in a web of financial-corruption scandals, known as Lázarogate, surrounding the administrations of that nation's last president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and of her late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, and centering on the Kirchernite businessman Lázaro Báez.

By 2010, when he was in his mid-20s, Elaskar had already been a principal in several international firms and had accumulated considerable personal wealth. In an April 2013 television interview, he described at length his role in an international scheme to launder money for Báez and other leading figures in the Kirchner circle. After the interview, however, he claimed that he had been lying. One report stated that Elaskar was “perhaps the key piece” in the entire history of corruption involving persons connected to the Kirchner government.

In 2020, Federico Elaskar said that the head of the Financial Information Unit during the government of Mauricio Macri, Mariano Federici, offered "a safe-conduct to the United States" to escape "via Uruguay" in exchange for declaring as repentant accusing the former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Career Elaskar was an employee of Droguería Vademécum S.A., whose president was Marcelo Emilio Elaskar and whose director was Paris Elaskar. He then became deputy director of ATC Argentine Trust Company SA and worked for the advertising company Latin Minds SRL.

Elaskar began his work in finance in 2009 as director and CEO of Vanquish Capital Group S.A., a firm that was involved in financial services, international commerce, and real estate transactions. Elaskar formed the firm on May 28, 2009, at age 24, with a start-up capital amounting to 200,000 pesos. The firm's various names and its existence in multiple countries have caused some confusion regarding its exact origins and the precise nature of Elaskar's relationship to it. Clarín reported that a firm called SGI Ventures LLC, with offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, and Mendoza, Argentina, was registered in Miami by Matias Molinari.

Clarín stated in its April 21, 2013 report that it had concluded from its investigation that Elaskar is part of a Miami-based “business network” centered on Molinari's father, the Argentine politician Carlos Molinari, a political ally of the Kirchners and a contributor to the U.S. presidential campaign of Barack Obama. At the time of Clarín’s report, Elaskar was a shareholder in North America LLC and Conway SGI Capital LLC. Clarín noted the participation in both these firms of Smester, who had been convicted in the U.S. of mortgage fraud.

A May 2013 article in Perfil stated that Elaskar had “a weakness” for “imported vehicles,” noting that he had owned several BMWs and Porsches. The article also mentioned a photograph that had recently been made public, purportedly showing Elaskar's black Porsche parked beside Báez's private airplane. In addition, the article maintained that Elaskar, when living in Miami, had crashed one of his Porsches into a church.

It was reported on June 10, 2013, that Elaskar, in four hours of testimony before Federal Judge Sebastian Casanello and prosecutor Guillermo Marijuan, had denied knowing Báez or the purchasers of SGI. Elaskar had also accused Lanata of carrying out “a hit operation” against the government. Three days later it was reported that Elaskar, who had submitted an appeal to the Buenos Aires Federal Court through his lawyer, Juan Manuel Ubeira, asking that the indictment against him be withdrawn, had withdrawn the appeal. This action was described by Perfil as “a strategy to accelerate the pace toward a public trial.”

Lawyer Jorge Chueco, in an interview published on July 3, 2013, said that he had orchestrated Elaskar's sale of SGI for $1,475,000 to Helvetic, the checks from which had ended up in an account owned by Báez. Chueco said that while arranging the sale, Elaskar had asked that his payment be sent to a foreign firm called Dunamis One Ltd. Chueco and his colleagues refused, whereupon Elaskar, according to Chueco, asked that his payment be made to one Jorge Alberto Cali, which did not happen either.

On October 17, 2013, Elaskar's extortion case against Báez was sent to the Federal Court.

A Wall Street Journal article published on July 28, 2014, about the financial scandal surrounding the Kirchners and Báez recounted Elaskar's appearance on Lanata's TV program and his later retraction of his statements. The Journal noted that prosecutor José María Campagnoli had verified Elaskar's and Fariña's connection to Báez and “their involvement in an alleged money-laundering scheme that used a network of shell companies” and had “alleged that Mr. Báez was a frontman for the Kirchners, diverting funds earmarked for public-works projects.” The Journal further reported on Casanello's unsealing of indictments against Fariña and Elaskar “for money laundering unrelated to their alleged involvement with Mr. Báez.” The Journal quoted Elaskar's comment that on Lanata's TV show he had been “put in a sausage-making machine.”

It was reported on August 15, 2014, that the Swiss government had asked Casanello and Marijuan for cooperation on the money-laundering case against Báez, Fariña, and Elaskar. However, neither Switzerland nor Belize had responded to Casanello's request to seize relevant bank accounts in those countries; Panama had rejected such a request. Elaskar was described as having “set up several cardboard companies” in Panama with Fabian Rossi.