Argentina’s central bank lost US$1.023 billion on gold-related operations in 2025, according to the national auditor. A criminal complaint against the economy minister and senior monetary officials now asks who made those decisions and why. The complaint became public on Friday 9 October 2026. No one has been charged, and the officials named remain presumed innocent.
Lawyer Gregorio Dalbón filed the complaint against Economy Minister Luis Caputo, central bank president Santiago Bausili and central bank board member Juan Curutchet. Federal judge Ariel Lijo received the case, with federal prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita taking part. Dalbón, who has represented Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina's president from 2007 to 2015, asks the court to determine who decided, authorized and designed the operations, which counterparties took part, what risks officials accepted, what controls existed and whether the state lost money.
“1.023 billion dollars is not an accounting entry,” Dalbón wrote, according to La Política Online. “They are the Republic's resources and demand an explanation equal to such a figure.”
What the Auditor Found
The figure comes from the National Audit Office (Auditoría General de la Nación, AGN), Congress's public-sector auditor, which reviewed the central bank's 2025 financial statements. The AGN found that derivatives settled in dollars and backed by some of the bank's physical gold lost US$960.2 million. Option premiums added another US$62.8 million in costs. Together, that's US$1.023 billion.
AGN president Juan Manuel Olmos said the central bank “erred in the calculation” and that the AGN had never reported a loss of that size since it began auditing the bank, Perfil reported. La Política Online reported that the auditor supported the procedure behind the gold operations, but not their result. A separate AGN audit of the physical gold and its transfer abroad remained under way, Perfil reported.
The Bank Pushes Back
The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) rejected the auditor's interpretation on Thursday 8 October. It said the combined value of its gold and hedges delivered a net gain of US$2.505 billion in 2025. The bank said it has hedged 100% of its gold against a sharp price fall since 2007. When gold rises, as it did in 2025, the insurance loses money while the metal gains. The BCRA said the AGN approved its 2025 accounts, which it called a record result, and accused the AGN's leadership of trying to discredit it “for purely political purposes.”
“A financial operation cannot be a hedge and speculative at the same time,” the bank said.
But the bank hasn't shown how it arrived at the US$2.505 billion net result. Neither the BCRA nor the AGN has publicly named the counterparties behind the gold operations. The public is left with competing numbers and no way to verify either one.
A Second Complaint, and the Stakes for Reserves
The gold also figures in another case. In September 2026, Peronist senators Martín Soria, Juliana Di Tullio and María Florencia López expanded a case opened on 28 April 2026. The Peronists, founded by former president Juan Perón, are Argentina's main opposition movement. Their complaint accuses President Javier Milei, Caputo and Bausili of abuse of authority, breach of official duties and embezzlement of public funds. Perfil reported that Bausili first placed gold moved abroad in Switzerland and later in London; the senators dispute his account.
The money at issue forms part of reserves that carry major obligations. The BCRA reported gross reserves of US$49.1 billion on Wednesday 7 October, making the US$1.023 billion loss cited by the auditor about 2% of the total. Those reserves support Argentina's US$20 billion IMF programme and foreign debt payments. The IMF approved a 48-month, US$20 billion loan in April 2025, and paid out US$12 billion at once. The BCRA also has a US$20 billion exchange stabilisation agreement with the U.S. Treasury, announced on 20 October 2025. The bank said on 9 January 2026 that it had settled in December the swaps made under that agreement in late 2025.
What Happens Next
A complaint doesn't establish wrongdoing or freeze assets. The AGN's audit of the gold transfer abroad hasn't been published. Whether Pollicita will open a formal investigation, or how Caputo, Bausili and Curutchet will respond, isn't known. Dalbón said he would submit documents on Tuesday 13 October, ask for suspects to be questioned and seek urgent steps to preserve evidence.
Why This Matters:
These are public reserves held by an institution accountable to Argentine citizens, in a country relying on a US$20 billion IMF programme and a US$20 billion U.S. Treasury arrangement to keep its finances afloat. When the congressional auditor and the central bank report opposite results from the same operations, and the bank hasn't shown its math or named its counterparties, oversight depends on documents the public hasn't seen. The unpublished AGN audit of the gold transfer, the unnamed counterparties and the unanswered questions about who authorized what are gaps that independent scrutiny exists to close. Whether the courts or Congress close them will say much about how accountable the state's monetary managers are to the people whose money they hold.