Alejandro Vandenbroele

Alejandro Paul Vandenbroele is an Argentinian-Belgian lawyer and businessman who is a leading figure in the Argentinian financial scandal known both as Boudougate and as “Caso Ciccone,” which happened in February 2012. As president of a Dutch-based firm called The Old Fund, he has been accused of being a front man for Argentinian Vice President Amado Boudou and for Boudou's business partner Núñez Carmona in a purported scheme involving the purchase and control of the printing house Ciccone Calcografica, later known as Compañía de Valores Sudamericana (American Securities Company), or CVS, which printed banknotes and documents for the government of Argentina.

The public comments and testimony of Vandenbroele's wife, Laura Muñoz, played a major role in exposing the Boudougate scandal and in incriminating Vandenbroele and other principals. In addition to being tried in Argentina, Vandenbroele was also wanted in Uruguay on charges of money laundering.

Career

2008

Vandenbroele first appeared in business records in March 2008 as a shareholder in Madrid-based Agroibérica de Inversiones SA, a firm purportedly involved in the “production, distribution, import and export of food and drinks.”

2009

In 2009, he became a shareholder in Buenos Aires-based Ruta Sur Rentals SA, which rents out motorhomes, RVs, and other vehicles and has German and Dutch owners.

2010

In July 2010, the Argentinian tax agency, the Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos (AFIP), called on Calcográfica Ciccone to declare bankruptcy. Calcográfica Ciccone was one of Argentina's most important printers, “often working for the state on such sensitive issues as the printing of banknotes, identity documents, and passports,” and owed the national treasury 239 million pesos.

Two months later, with backing from Amado Boudou, who at the time was Economy Minister, the AFIP reversed itself and allowed Ciccone to refinance its debt. A Netherlands-based corporation named The Old Fund, described by Clarín as a “mysterious company,” whose only public face was Vandenbroele, thereupon invested 2.3 million pesos in Ciccone, and Vandenbroele assumed the presidency of what became known as the “new” Ciccone, the name of which was eventually changed to Compañía de Valores Sudamericana (American Securities Company), or CVS. The Old Fund owned 70% of the “new” Ciccone, of which it officially took control on October 29, 2010, two days after the death of Néstor Kirchner. One of the founders of the company, Nicholas Ciccone, and the two daughters of his deceased brother, Hector, owned 30%.