AFA institutional history, Grondona and FIFA-Gate
§14 — AFA institutional history, Grondona and FIFA-Gate
Lives in: Phase 2 Task 5; Phase 3 RET-006/007/013/014/015.
Grondona: born Avellaneda 18 Sept 1931; AFA president 6 April 1979 – death; FIFA ExCo from 1988; FIFA Senior VP; chairman of the FIFA Finance Committee. Died 30 July 2014, Sanatorio Mitre, aged 82, after an aortic aneurysm — CONMEBOL/NBC: he "was about to be rushed into an emergency surgery but died moments before it began."
The DOJ wording, which must not drift: Grondona was never indicted and never named by the DOJ. He appears only under anonymised labels. Press (AP, The New Republic) attribute "Co-Conspirator #1" to him in the 2015 indictments — not independently verified against the primary indictment text. What is DOJ-confirmed by primary source: the June 2017 Jorge Luis Arzuaga criminal information refers to "Soccer Official #1", described as "the then-president of AFA", stating Arzuaga "assisted Burzaco in paying more than $25 million in bribes… for the benefit of Soccer Official #1" and, "Following Soccer Official #1's death in 2014", arranged transfer of the balance "to Soccer Official #1's heirs." The 2021 Bank Julius Baer DPA refers to "the senior vice president of FIFA, who was also the president of the [AFA]." Burzaco's 2017 trial testimony implicating Grondona consists of cooperating-witness allegations, not adjudicated findings against a man who was never tried. His son Humberto publicly denied wrongdoing. Phase 2 recommendation #5 governs: apply anonymised-label discipline.
The "38-38" election: 3 December 2015 — not 29 October. Ezeiza; candidates Segura and Tinelli; 75 accredited members returned 38-38 = 76 votes; official explanation: one envelope contained two ballots stuck together. Segura: "Nos encontramos ante una situación insólita… Les pido disculpas por el error." Two Tinelli-aligned voters had left, blocking a re-vote. No valid president was elected. A 2017 fraud allegation (Coloma v Escribano) reopened it; both candidates publicly called it an "error", not proven fraud. Corrected by Phase 2 against four sources (La Nación, Diario Popular, Infobae, El Territorio).
FIFA-Gate: 27 May 2015 indictment (EDNY, 47 counts, 14 defendants, 7 arrested in Zurich) and the 3 December 2015 superseding indictment (92 counts, 16 more). No serving AFA official was indicted in 2015 — the Argentines charged were marketing executives (Burzaco; the Jinkises), not AFA office-holders. The most senior AFA figure was dead.
The 2016–17 institutional sequence (Phase 3): Segura procesado 23 June 2016 (Fútbol Para Todos; embargo 50m pesos) → FIFA moved to displace him 24 June → resigned 27 June, "renuncia indeclinable" processed ~15–16 July → acephaly → FIFA/CONMEBOL Normalising Committee under Armando Pérez, announced 18 July 2016 → Bauza appointed 2 August → FIFA letter reaffirming the committee's powers 1 Nov 2016 ("no sólo el derecho, sino también el deber") → Tapia elected 29 March 2017, 40 votes to 3 blanks (not "39-1" — corrected), ending 251 days of committee administration and 973 days since Grondona's death; the same assembly unanimously approved ceding TV rights to Fox–Turner for five years; FIFA/CONMEBOL had pressed AFA (letter signed by Samoura and Astigarraga) to amend statute article 87 under threat of suspension → Bauza dismissed 10 April 2017; Superliga created 2017.