Álvarez Puga and his wife Inés Gómez Mont, still a fugitive, were accused in 2021 by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) of organized crime and of carrying out operations with resources of illicit origin for almost 3 billion pesos through billing companies.
Mexico City, October 28 (However).– The arrested Víctor Manuel Álvarez Puga He was recognized for having one of the most important law firms in the country and for being the husband of the host Inés Gómez Mont. He was also seen by social magazines as a prominent philanthropic businessman. The truth is that everything was a facade, like many of the companies that led him to be the head of the “most important billing group in the country.”
According to official sources, the detention of Víctor Manuel Álvarez Puga occurred for immigration reasons, which means that he was not apprehended in compliance with an extradition order.
Although his arrest is not linked to the crimes he is accused of in Mexico, US authorities could deport him if they confirm that his stay in the country is irregular or if an Interpol red card is activated.
The businessman and his wife left Mexico in 2019 and moved to Florida, after criminal proceedings were announced against them for alleged illicit operations and corruption during the Administration of former President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Álvarez Puga and his wife Inés Gómez Mont, still a fugitive, were accused in 2021 by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) of organized crime and of carrying out operations with resources of illicit origin for almost 3 billion pesos through billing companies.
Gómez Mont, the most visible face of the couple, was characterized by leading a life of luxury. In the United States, where Álvarez Puga was detained due to his immigration status, Inés Gómez Mont acquired a mansion that in the past belonged to Cher and another that was a neighbor of Donald Trump.
Years before the siege that was deployed in 195 countries against this couple, both had already faced legal problems in Mexico.
Víctor Álvarez Puga and his brother Alejandro opened Álvarez Puga & Asociados in 2000 and in just 10 years they already had a portfolio of 700 clients nationwide, according to the information published on their Linkedin profile. Precisely in 2010, the offices of the firm were searched by the Tax Administration Service (SAT) in seven cities in the country due to an investigation into tax fraud and money laundering.
“Álvarez Puga & Asociados develops labor substitution schemes to evade taxes, profit sharing, bonuses, payments to the IMSS and other benefits that workers in Mexico should enjoy,” said the SAT in April 2010 in a statement. “The SAT detected that the Álvarez Puga y Asociados firm advises its clients to engage in tax evasion or outsourcing behavior. They develop labor substitution schemes to evade taxes. With outsourcing, workers are transferred to cooperative societies and the distribution of profits, taxes and social security is avoided.”
In 2016, the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime Investigation (SEIDO) dismissed the case.
Álvarez Puga not only used his companies to evade taxes and money laundering through cash movements and banking transactions, he also participated in charitable causes within the Government, such as Enrique Peña Nieto’s National Crusade against Hunger, and until a few years ago he had a valid concession in the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat).
Another precedent goes back to 2012, when the newspaper The New York Times published that a company owned by the tax and administrative consulting businessman was actually a parent company of ghost firms.
El País maintains this Tuesday that sources consulted report that the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office managed to denounce Álvarez Puga before a judge only until certain powerful officials left the Government. Before that, in the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), sources indicate, an agreement was being prepared that would allow Gómez Mont to cover his tax debts and remove the siege of justice.
Precisely regarding Inés Gómez Mont, in February 2020, months before the arrest warrant was issued against her and Álvarez Puga, it was made public that there was a complaint against her for alleged operations with resources of illicit origin due to the fact that during the 2016 fiscal year she registered income higher than what she reported in her Income Tax (ISR) declaration that year.
In fact, in 2018 the driver requested the intervention of the Deconcentrated Administrative Body Specialized in Alternative Mechanisms for the Resolution of Disputes in Criminal Matters of the PGR, to allow her to reach a reparatory agreement with the Tax Administration Service.
In November of that year, it was agreed that Inés Gómez Mont should pay 10 million 967 thousand 907 pesos “for omitted federal contributions” with which the matter would be resolved, but on January 16, 2019 it was ruled that the amount did not cover the damage done to the Treasury, so an additional payment of 2 million 604 thousand 537 pesos was required.
However, the Tax Crimes Directorate of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office for Investigations of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office determined the agreement was inadmissible, so there was a request for criminal action to be taken against Gómez Mont.
”It is an investigation that was carried out due to a discrepancy to which we are all exposed when we are not accountants and that at the time I was notified that I owed money, I paid it at that moment,” the host said on March 10, 2020 to Imagen Televisión, ensuring that she did not act with malice.
In this case, the driver filed a new amparo to stop the process against her.
In September 2021, Álvarez Puga and Gómez Mont were accused of using shell companies that facilitated tax evasion, diversion of public resources and money laundering for third parties. On September 28 of that year, the presenter declared herself “not guilty” in a letter published on social networks and denied any link with organized crime.
Added to this is that in 2022 the newspaper El País announced that the couple was facing a civil lawsuit before a Florida Court for the debt of a mortgage loan of more than four million dollars that they acquired in July 2021. The trial documentation revealed that, as a guarantee of payment, Gómez Mont and Álvarez Puga pledged two properties located in the counties of Miami and Palm Beach, which have a total value of 11.3 million dollars. The case documents showed that both characters lived in Florida, where they have a real estate fortune.
