The 4th Guarantee Court of Santiago has decreed this Tuesday preventive detention for four defendants in the so-called Sartor case, one of the biggest financial scandals in recent times that allegedly caused damages amounting to 180 million dollars to multiple investors. Judge Paulina Moya has ordered the precautionary measure for businessman Michael Clark Varela, who until April 2026 served as chairman of the board of Azul Azul, the sports joint-stock company in charge of the concession of the Universidad de Chile football club. Detention has also been ordered for Pedro Pablo Larraín Mery, former controller of Sartor; Carlos Larraín Mery, former director of the General Fund Administrator (AGF); and Sergio Yáñez, former controller of the factoring company Emprender Capital.
In her ruling, Judge Moya stated that the freedom of Clark, the Larraín brothers, and Yáñez posed a danger to society’s security and to the success of the investigation. Rodrigo Bustamante, former partner of Sartor, and Juan Carlos Jorquera, former executive of the holding company, also charged in the case, have been placed under partial house arrest and restricted residence. The court has set 120 days for the development of the investigation. The accused who remain in detention can appeal and request a change in the precautionary measure before the Court of Appeals.
The court has found proven six of the seven crimes for which the Prosecutor’s Office charges the involved parties. Among these are money laundering, disloyal administration, fraud, and fraud by omission of a public acquisition offer (OPA), among others. The decision was made after nearly two weeks of formalization hearings — the stage in the Chilean procedural system where the accused learn the charges against them — in which all parties presented their arguments.
The Sartor Group is an entity that originally dedicated itself to providing financial and commercial advisory services, as well as investment and finance management. The Public Prosecutor’s investigation, which arose from an inspection by the Financial Market Commission (CMF), has indicated the existence of funds lent to companies owned by the same partners and executives of the financial group. This movement would have directly affected the people who invested in these instruments, who claim the loss of a large part of their assets.
The investigation also has a sports-related aspect, as the Sartor Group entered the ownership of Azul Azul during 2021. It did so through Tactical Sport, an investment fund that bought the shares sold by businessman Carlos Heller for 15.5 million dollars. The owner of Tactical Sport was Michael Clark, who that year joined the board of Universidad de Chile as a representative of the main controller of the joint-stock company, with 63% ownership. In December 2024, a company called Inversiones Antumalal, owned by Clark, agreed to pay 5,719,482 dollars for 90% of Tactical Sport’s shares to Sartor, with which the businessman gained greater control of the sports concessionaire. That last transaction has been investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office, as it is presumed to be connected with operations carried out by other Sartor executives to use the funds.
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In April 2026, a few weeks before the formalization, Clark resigned as president of Universidad de Chile and left it in the hands of Cecilia Pérez, the former spokesperson for Sebastián Piñera’s government. Later, the businessman requested to annul and reverse the purchase he made through Inversiones Antumalal. In one of the hearing sessions, the executive stated that he was not directly linked to Sartor and that he had a minor degree of participation in the questioned fund manager. “It is not pleasant for anyone to be here. I have always said that I think I am involved a bit by rebound,” he said to the press at the doors of the Santiago Justice Center.
The investigation into Sartor and Michael Clark has complicated Universidad de Chile, one of the country’s most popular football teams. The opacity regarding the origin of the investment by the administrator and the executive has raised doubts about who the true owner of Azul Azul is. In recent years, names such as Victoriano Cerda and Marcelo Pesce, owners of Huachipato, and Patricio Kiblisky, former owner of Ñublense, have emerged, who are associated due to some player transfers with la U that have sparked questions in the sports environment. The possible association of the university club with shareholders of other teams is complex, as the sports joint-stock company law prohibits multi-ownership of teams.
The club bears the name of Universidad de Chile, an institution that has closely followed the development of the investigation against Michael Clark. Vice-rector Dorotea López Giral has toughened the tone against Azul Azul and has said that the university will evaluate all available actions, including removing the institution’s name from the sports joint-stock company. “It is unacceptable for the University that the use of its name and symbols continues under such circumstances, without minimum conditions that guarantee effective respect for its university character, principles, and values,” she has declared.
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