Generation Zoe's No. 2 returned to the country from France to surrender to Justice

Maximiliano Batista, alias “Max”, Generation Zoe's number 2, partner with fugitive leader Leonardo Cositorto in several of the firms that make up the a conglomerate accused of carrying out a massive Ponzi scheme, arrived this morning at Ezeiza airport to surrender to justice. He arrived on an Air France flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris that landed at 9:02 in the morning.

On the ground, a brigade of five Interpol detectives from the Federal Police was waiting for him. Batista had spent more than a month at large, wanted by prosecutor Juliana Companys with a request for international arrest, accused of fraud and illicit association, with more than ten victims who came forward in Villa María, province of Córdoba to denounce the group. He had become an elusive suspect. Police intelligence data placed him in Amsterdam, versions of his environment marked him in Barcelona. How he boarded the flight is still a mystery, even to his lawyers.

Facundo Díaz Anzorena, one of his lawyers, who is part of the firm of Miguel Ángel Pierri, who also represents Cositorto, was also expecting him. Pierri, for his part, as confirmed by the lawyer himself to Infobae, was preparing to travel to Córdoba from Aeroparque where he hopes to be present at the Batista investigation to assist him with Dr. Guillermo Dragotto, a historic member of his studio.

Shortly before 10 in the morning, sources in the case confirmed to Infobae that Batista was already in the custody of the Federal Police.

Pierri argues that the ontological coach decided to return to the country at the end of last week and that Batista's mother's health situation accelerated her coming to Argentina, but the truth is that the pressure was increasing. Last week, the Federal Police raided Batista's daughter in Belgrano: she was kidnapped by a Mercedes Benz and a dozen phones and computers, as well as dollars and pesos. Pierri denies that the young woman, who posted on her networks years ago videos of old Cositorto schemes, has any relation to the network.

Meanwhile, local authorities suspect that Cositorto would be in Colombia, or somewhere in Central America. The leader, unlike his second in command, still resists with videos filmed under beach umbrellas where he calls on his followers to hold the line with new fundraising projects to capture new savers and delay creditors with promises.

Another high-profile fugitive in the case is Hector Luis Yrimia, a former judge and federal prosecutor turned businessman, who called himself the “legal director of Generation Zoe” with videos where he was proselytizing heavily for the group. Last week, the PFA raided Yrimia's study. His father, a 95-year-old man, was arrested for alleged illegitimate possession of a gun, an arrest unrelated to the Zoe case. For now, researchers argue that Yrimia is not in the country. He would have left Argentina at the end of 2021, heading to a neighboring country, a possible stopover to a more distant destination.

The case in Cordoba already has more than a dozen detainees, including Claudio Álvarez and Silvia Fermani, the heads of Generation Zoe in Córdoba.

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