Argentina: Judge overseeing Extorsiongate case testifies in Congress
Federal Judge Alejo Ramos Padilla, who oversees a case involving a massive extortion scheme involving millions in ransom payments and false testimony coerced against political opponents, testified in front of Argentina's Congress yesterday.
Ramos Padilla discussed the developing extortion case against Federal Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli and his close associate, Marcelo d'Alessio.
Evidence gleaned from d'Alessio's mobile phones and hard drives implicate two pro-government congresswomen, the nation's leading right-wing daily (Clarín), Argentina's intelligence agency AFI (headed by a business partner of President Mauricio Macri), and elements in the U.S. Government.
"This is a para-state network of ideological, political and judicial espionage of great magnitude," the judge said before the Committee on Freedom of Expression. "A web of illegal intelligence operations linked to the judiciary, government, security forces, political powers, and the media."
He was invited to testify by committee chairman Leopoldo Moreau after the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Senator Juan Carlos Marino - a staunch Macri loyalist - refused to do so.
Other members of Macri's "Let's Change" caucus avoided the hearing altogether, including congresswomen Elisa Carrió and Paula Olivetto - both of whom are implicated in the scandal.
U.S. intelligence links
d'Alessio, the judge explained, claimed to work for U.S. intelligence, and had embassy documents, CIA manuals, and U.S.-issued weapons in his possession.
Messages gleaned from his phone showed d'Alessio discussing espionage against Uruguay, his coercing false testimony from a lawyer for Venezuela's PdVSA, and his reporting via diplomatic pouch to "our headquarters in Maine."
d'Alessio also boasted in messages to using data stolen from the state energy agency ENARSA as an NSA spy to help frame former Public Works Minister Julio de Vido and his deputy, Roberto Baratta. David Cohen, who prepared the falsified report, was indicted on March 8.
Other documents suggest offers from U.S. President Donald Trump's political staff to provide "media coaching" to Macri for his 2019 re-election campaign. Help with potential judicial and media operations was also mentioned.
The U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, which denied ties to d'Alessio, refused to cooperate with Judge Ramos Padilla, and refused to comment.
Extornelli
d'Alessio, 48, was arrested on February 15, a week after 22 hours of incriminating audio and video collected by farmer Pedro Etchebest, from whom d'Alessio sought a $300,000 ransom, was submitted to journalist Horacio Verbitsky.
The tapes, made throughout January, show d'Alessio boasting that some $12 million in bribes had been collected by Stornelli since August.
The recordings also implicate among others Clarín writer Daniel Santoro - a close d'Alessio friend and author of numerous debunked claims against Macri's leading opponent, former President Cristina Kirchner.
And while Stornelli denied knowing d'Alessio, video and WhatsApp messages show a close working relationship between the two - as well as with Macri's hard-line Security Minister Patricia Bullrich.
Stornelli, charged on March 6 as a co-conspirator, was summoned to testify by Judge Ramos Padilla but refused to appear. He has likewise refused to turn in any cell phones - though Gustavo Sáenz, another close Macri ally and reputed bag man in the scheme, has.
Running on empty
Federal authorities have meanwhile refused to transport d'Alessio and two co-defendants (both former AFI agents) from Buenos Aires to Judge Ramos Padilla's court in Dolores, just 125 mi away, claiming "a lack of fuel." They informed the judge that they do not intend to take him to Dolores until March 23.
"We've been denied assistance and resources," the judge testified, "and they inform the public when I am without security."
Amid a severe economic crisis, Macri is facing job disapproval of 70% and has relied on corruption allegations against Kirchner and her former officials to boost his reelection chances this year.
"This is the gravest institutional scandal since democracy returned to Argentina (in 1983)," Committee Chairman Leopoldo Moreau said.
"This is a mafia dedicated to framing opponents, coercing false testimony, and espionage."
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pagina12.com.ar%2F180623-es-una-red-ilegal-de-grandes-magnitudes
Argentine Federal Judge Alejo Ramos Padilla presenting evidence gathered from extortionist Marcelo d'Alessio during his testimony yesterday as Committee Chairman Leopoldo Moreau looks on.
The judge described "a web of illegal intelligence operations linked to the judiciary, government, security forces, political powers, and the media" as well as U.S. intelligence.
Besides illicit enrichment, evidence points to the goal of framing opponents in order to boost Macri's flagging re-election chances this year.
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But they had never had hard evidence of that - until now.
And all thanks to a farmer who, after being approached by these criminals for a $300,000 ransom (they originally wanted $800,000), said to himself: 'I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.'
Well, that and d'Alessio's own, very BIG mouth.
As the article mentioned, Macri has refused to let d'Alessio testify until March 23rd; and I frankly don't expect him to be around that long (I hope I'm wrong).
Thanks as always for your time and observations, Judi. We'll see where this goes.
Extortionist and intelligence asset Marcelo d'Alessio, and his would-be victim Pedro Etchebest.
Etchebest's 22 hours of recordings of d'Alessio stopped Argentina's most wide-reaching - and highest-placed - extortion ring since the 1976 dictatorship.
I read the google translation, and will have to study it harder to see if I can make sense of it, later:
03/09/2019
They prosecuted for false testimony the expert whose report served to stop De Vido
This is David Cohen, accused of providing false information in the context of the case in which alleged overpricing in the importation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) during the previous government.
More:
https://www.eldiario24.com/nota/argentina/430497/procesaron-falso-testimonio-al-perito-cuyo-informe-sirvio-para-detener-de-vido.html
This is all confounding!
Now, going back to your posted article, above...
(Oh, had to mention Cohen does most surely look "shifty," I think.)
Daniel Santoro receives the Maria Moors Cabot Award from Columbia University in 2007.
Why shouldn't Columbia University celebrate this barf bag traitor? After all, he's an asset with secret spy agencies. What a success story....
It occurred to me that it all falls into place looking at his "stories" and the relationship to right-wing political goals. Without a doubt all the information or misinformation he got was quickly supplied to him while he hardly ever had to lift a thumb, just get it published!
I do recall when the State Department was starting to take potshots at Cristina after her husband died. It seemed so uncivilized, but I realized they expected her to crumble up quickly and allow the right wing to step in and steal control well before the next election. Sure, they started putting cruel, indecent psychological pressure on her the moment her husband died, then started questioning publicly if she might just be too frail, emotionally, to fulfill her duties.
Found a wiki for Santoro which could trigger a vomit storm without a warning first!
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Santoro_(periodista)
All of these people seem treacherous. It would be only right for them to step to the rear as soon as possible.
Published in March 2015 - as the campaigns were getting underway - that chestnut was given front-page treatment by Clarín despite being sourced from pure hearsay (a far-right anti-Kirchner figure, and two "anonymous" sources).
The claim was written in the conditional tense, as Santoro knew it was false.
Where'd he get the idea? The Clarín Group is known to have at least one Delaware account (and Macri, of course, has many - though not in Delaware).
And indeed the U.S. Treasury Dept. and authorities from other nations researched the matter at Macri's own request, and found them false: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eldestapeweb.com%2Fnilda-garre%2Fla-justicia-sobreseyo-maximo-kirchner-y-nilda-garre-las-falsas-cuentas-el-exterior-n52400
So it figures Santoro would lend himself to this extortion ring by running hit pieces - plus Fox-style treatment at Clarín's TN News - on whomever refused to pay d'Alessio and Stornelli.
Here's d'Alessio (lower left, thumb up) and Santoro (right, standing), plus wives and relatives, in a party last year. Santoro claims not to really know him.
Regarding your post below:
As for why Macri refuses to transport d'Alessio to Dolores (just 2 hours away), most agree that it's because he doesn't want him to testify.
Plus, they may be getting to him somehow - and of course the chance they may be planning to kill him (though I doubt they'd dare, given all the publicity around d'Alessio).
As far as Judge Ramos Padilla, I doubt they'd want to hurt him (bad publicity); but they're certainly planning to defame him somehow. Clarín and other RW media have certainly been trying already.
Thanks again for taking all that time, Judi, and sharing your keen thoughts on this. Your memory's amazing!
You know, the involvement of a big, right-wing media outlet in the scandal makes this story very 'Trumpian' in a way - much like Hannity and others at Fox were involved in Russiagate.
But this being in Argentina, Macri took it much further than even Cheeto would dare.
