Argentina authorities arrest three in large-scale real estate fraud

Authorities in La Plata, Argentina, have arrested three individuals and issued an international arrest warrant for a fourth in connection with a large-scale real estate fraud. The investigation targets the sale of residential lots in purported gated communities that were legally ineligible for such use.

Francisco Alberto Vila Basualdo, a CEO of a business conglomerate, was detained alongside Eugenia Martínez and Milena del Sol Dell’Aqua. Nadia Antonella Lima remains at large, with authorities seeking her capture nationally and internationally. The suspects are accused of various counts of fraud related to the Sophenia and Garden developments.

According to judicial resolutions, the scheme involved selling undivided interests in large parcels of land while presenting them to buyers as individual, buildable residential lots with prospects for formal title deeds. Martínez also faces charges for the use of a false public document.