On June 22, 2023, after 11 a.m., Luis Hermosilla, Leonarda Villalobos and Daniel Sauer met in office 41A of the Alonso building, from the Patio group. The meeting was recorded on the lawyer’s cell phone. On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, Ciper disclosed the content of said meeting. Almost five months passed between both episodes.
Just after a year of the case, new information emerges in the Prosecutor’s Office investigation, which reveals Rodrigo Topelberg’s efforts to carry out financial and legal arrangements in Panama and Israel before his arrest.
On April 20, 2024, Topelberg was formalized, along with the brothers Daniel and Ariel Sauer, partners of Factop and the STF brokerage, for the alleged crimes of repeated fraud, illegal exercise of banking activity and money laundering, among other charges. . According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Topelberg and the Sauers operated a structure that issued more than 10,000 false invoices.
On Friday, the Prosecutor’s Office delivered a new version of the Factop case file to those involved in the case. Among the thousands of documents are the WhatsApp group transcripts that Rodrigo Topelberg, his sister, Nicole (Nicky) and his advisor Daniela Mezacalled “Grupo Tanukazo”, in reference to Tanuka, one of the companies created by Topelberg to manage his assets.
The background also includes a chat between Topelberg and André Roitmanformer executive of the Israeli bank Leumi. On August 18, 2023, Topelberg wrote to Roitman: “My lawyer did not do well with the contacts in Panama. “I wanted us to explore the option of watching them with your loved ones.”
The next day, Roitman responded: “Tell them to call Ricardo for me. Of course, with pleasure. Send them a WhatsApp and tell them that they are my reference.”
According to conversations between Roitman and Topelberg, the relationship between the two was close and friendly. They communicated frequently, discussing both personal and professional topics. In several conversations they coordinated meetings, discussed investments and mentioned topics related to their families.
Regarding the mentions of Leumi and Valley Bank in the context of financial transactions, in a conversation of the May 8, 2023, Topelberg asked Roitman: “Should I put Leumi or Valley?”, to which Roitman replied: “Both work, put Leumi USA if not, it takes you to Tel Aviv.” This conversation was related to managing funds and choosing the most convenient bank to make transfers.
In the WhatsApp chat group called “Tanukazo”, on January 17, 2024, during a conversation about the administration of family funds, Topelberg told Daniela Meza, his advisor, about his broader concerns regarding certain adversaries. . Amid pressure to resolve complex financial issues and plan for his father, Enrique’s, inheritance, Topelberg expressed his approach to the external threats he faced, saying: “I have more powerful enemies elsewhere. “That shit doesn’t worry me, but I do care about staying informed of any appearance.”
Rodrigo Topelberg’s legal defense explained this background in this way. “Along with the start of the case, the family’s assets and partnerships were reviewed to see how much money had been lost, as it was considerable, but not yet determined. In this process, it was noted that a foreign company in which RT has a stake was having an administrative problem in order to function, which arose from the death of his sister Andrea, a former partner of the company, so a way to solve it was explored, but where there was a long and not easy path,” they declared in writing. The defenders recall that a request for bankruptcy liquidation was then filed against Rodrigo Topelberg. “If this is accepted, he has a very strict and precise legal obligation to detail all the assets of his estate to resolve the debts,” they said.
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“That is why the foreign company could represent a problem if its lack of operation was perceived as a risk to its assets or a difficulty in responding to debts, which is why foreign counsel was contacted to solve it in order to present assets. clear and functional to creditors in the event of bankruptcy liquidation,” he added.
In February 2024, José Coz resigned from Rodrigo Topelberg’s defense, and Alejandro Awad and Miguel Schürmann took over as his replacement.
Planning the inheritance of the family patriarch, Enrique Topelberg It took place over several months, where conversations between family members and their advisor, Daniela Mezawere key to ensuring that funds and assets were well managed. During this process, the family faced the complexity of managing funds at Valley Bank, where the Topelbergs’ father held a significant portion of his estate.
On August 14, 2023, while the efforts to organize Enrique Topelberg’s will progressed, Meza highlighted the importance of ensuring the traceability of the funds. In a conversation with Rodrigo Topelberg, Meza stressed how essential it was to obtain clarity about the funds at Valley Bank before proceeding with the will, given the uncertainty about access to those resources in the event of death.
“Don Rodrigo told me about Don Enrique’s will. Please don’t get ahead of yourself, this has to be seen with Altamirano, mainly because of the money that Don Enrique has in Valley Bank. The first thing he asks me for is the traceability of these funds: origin and the way in which Valley Bank acts in the event of death, that is, if the heirs have direct access to these funds. The total amount of what Don Enrique has is also important.”
This conversation was crucial in structuring the next steps in managing the estate, since any decision about the will depended on being clear about how those funds could be accessed.
On January 22 of this year, Rodrigo confirmed that steps had already been taken to collect information about the funds at Valley Bank, ensuring the family was prepared for the key family meeting. “Okay, the information has already been requested from Valley Bank.”
A month later, the conversations continued to focus on banking movements related to the funds of Aida Kleinkopfmother of Rodrigo Topelberg, and how family-related expenses should be correctly recorded. Daniela Meza, always attentive to financial details, informed Nicole Topelberg about some movements that should be recorded in the accounts: “Mrs. Nicole, I will send you some bank transactions that need to be recorded. Position Mrs. Aida: $15,460,391 – Don Eduardo’s account.”
This financial context was particularly complex, as it involved accounts in different banks and jurisdictions, requiring close coordination between the family and their advisor.
In March, as the date for making final decisions on the will approached, the family continued to fine-tune the financial and tax details, ensuring that Enrique Topelberg’s assets were properly organized to avoid legal and tax problems.
