Argentine businessman Fred Machado sentenced to six years in US prison

Federico Andres "Fred" Machado was sentenced to six years in prison in the United States for conspiracy to launder assets and commit electronic fraud. Federal Judge Amos L. Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas accepted the plea agreement Machado negotiated with prosecutors.

The judge imposed 72 months of imprisonment for each of the two crimes but ordered the sentences to run concurrently. As a result, the total prison term is six years. Machado will also serve three years of supervised release after leaving prison.

“The sentence closed part of an investigation into a scheme involving fraudulent aircraft operations and money laundering.”

Machado financed and facilitated aircraft for Jose Luis Espert's 2019 presidential campaign. The sentence closed part of an investigation into a scheme involving fraudulent aircraft operations and money laundering.

The businessman was arrested in April 2021 at Neuquen airport in Argentina and extradited to Texas in November 2025. He spent about four and a half years detained in Argentina.

In exchange for the plea deal, prosecutors withdrew an international drug trafficking charge dating back to 2020 that carried a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years. The judge rejected defense objections and dismissed dozens of charges and extensions from the original accusation.

The court ordered a special assessment of 100 dollars per charge and postponed for 90 days the determination of restitution payments to victims. A new hearing was scheduled for February 17, 2027, at noon in Sherman, Texas.

Associates told LA NACION that Machado could regain his freedom soon because the time detained in Argentina while awaiting extradition may be credited toward his sentence. They also hope he can serve the supervised release in Argentina, though this possibility does not appear in the judicial documents reviewed by LA NACION.