In 2022, during a large-scale operation, Spanish security forces detained 24 people, seized 100 kilos of marijuana, 37 kilos of cocaine, firearms, luxury vehicles, and large sums of money, and convicted the main leaders of the band in March 2025. Judicial sources indicated that the companies linked to Calvete served as a front to give a semblance of legality to activities related to drug trafficking and money laundering, which transformed the case into an international investigation. On December 5, 2023, the Spanish Justice issued an international arrest warrant against Alejandro Calvete as part of a case investigating a transnational network linked to drug trafficking, money laundering, and the operation of a network of laboratories in several European countries, according to La Nación. According to Spanish judicial records, Calvete's corporate structure had extended to Spain, Switzerland, and Portugal, with the apparent aim of operating through societies that declared to be dedicated to the cultivation and production of medicinal cannabis, such as the firm Viridi Pharmaceutical and the MoonPharm AG laboratory network, constituted between 2020 and 2021, TNA could learn. These companies are the legal front of a business that Spanish Justice linked to a large-scale illegal operation for the production and marketing of drugs attributed to a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, a Mexican criminal group of enormous international reach. The judicial investigation began in 2020 when family members of Mexican origin associated with this organization arrived in Madrid with millions of euros in cash and precious metals, bought properties, and established commercial companies. The forces involved were unable to arrest Calvete during the searches carried out at his home in Madrid, where firearms for which he did not have a permit were seized, which also generated an accusation for illegal possession and the request for a two-year prison sentence by the Spanish prosecutor. The business associations allegedly used as a front include societies in Portugal and Switzerland, where MoonPharm AG also appears, a company that weeks ago came to light for its indirect involvement in the so-called 'Koldo case' in Spain, an investigation for alleged illegal commissions in public contracts during the pandemic that has compromised figures from the Socialist Party and the environment of President Pedro Sánchez. Buenos Aires, December 17, 2025 - Total News Agency - TNA - The international investigation linked to the Calvete clan, whose family core is already involved in a corruption scandal at the National Disability Agency (Andis) in Argentina, has taken on an even more serious dimension with the revelation of a alleged money laundering plot with links to a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and crossings with the so-called 'Koldo case' that affects the government of Pedro Sánchez in Spain. Spanish Justice has issued an arrest warrant and continues to track the operations of one of the protagonists of this criminal network that combines economic, business, and drug trafficking crimes. The central figure of this chapter is Alejandro Adolfo Calvete, the older brother and partner of Miguel Ángel Calvete, who is currently serving a prison sentence in Argentina for procuration and is implicated in the Andis case. In that case, it was mentioned that a former advisor to Minister José Luis Ábalos made representations to the Spanish Ministry of Health to facilitate regulatory permits in favor of MoonPharm AG, without it being determined to date whether there was knowledge of the criminal background of that firm. This nexus between the Andis case in Argentina and a drug trafficking and money laundering investigation in Europe, with political crossings in Spain, creates a scenario of binational judicial cooperation and reinforces suspicions that the opaque corporate structures of the Calvetes not only served for domestic crimes but could have been part of a broader network of illegal operations with cross-border reach. According to specialists in international criminal investigation consulted, the existence of an arrest warrant issued by the Spanish judiciary underscores the seriousness of the charges and the possibility that this case could lead to deeper judicial cooperation between Argentina and Spain, while Calvete remains a fugitive, supposedly residing in Paraguay, and documentary evidence continues to be analyzed by prosecutor's offices and courts on both continents.
