A high-ranking government official said Tuesday that Mexico's government "will take control" of Liga MX side Queretaro, whose owner is the CEO of a company at the center of a money-laundering probe involving Citigroup's Mexican subsidiary, according to Simon Gardner of REUTERS. Mexican authorities are investigating oil services company Oceanografia after Citigroup said on Friday that it had discovered at least $400M "in fraudulent loans at its Mexican subsidiary, Banamex." Banamex made the loans to Oceanografia on the basis of payments "due for services provided to Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex." The Mexican government has said it is investigating Oceanografia for money laundering. The CEO of Oceanografia "is the owner of the Gallos Blancos." Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said, "Queretaro will be taken control of, I'm not sure when, but it will be taken control of" (REUTERS, 3/5). Queretaro President Adolfo Ríos García said, "It is true, there has been a lot of speculation. ... We do not have any official information. It has been speculated that there are investors, it has been speculated that the club is sold, but none of these situations are real" (Queretaro).
