Claudio Bonadio, Argentina's "Ken Starr," dead at 64
Argentine Federal Judge Claudio Bonadío, known for overseeing many of the cases involving former President Cristina Kirchner or her cabinet, has died of a brain tumor; he was 64.
Bonadío was widely known as former President Mauricio Macri's "napkin" (pocket) judge - a nickname he first earned in 1996 when a top official under then-President Carlos Menem wrote his name on a café napkin as one of nine judges Menem could count on as cronies.
Amid an economic and debt crisis, the right-wing Macri recently became the first president in Argentine history to lose re-election.
Bonadío oversaw 11 of 13 federal cases against Mrs. Kirchner - despite requirements that federal cases be randomly assigned by lot.
His handling of these cases became known for a refusal to allow defendants access to evidence and case files, as well as for admitting unverified evidence (found to be forged in at least one case) and unrecorded "confessions" of witnesses who later alleged being pressured by the judge.
A raid ordered by the judge on Kirchner's home in August 2018 led to the poisoning of her housekeeper and two others by what the attending physician described as a "contact toxin."
Bonadío, on the other hand, routinely dismissed charges against Macri or his officials - notably the "Panama Papers" case, in which Macri's name was found on at least 50 undeclared offshore accounts.
Napkin judge
Appointed Chief Counsel to President Menem in 1992, at the height of the "Yomagate" scandal involving alleged money laundering by Menem's in-laws, Bonadío was named to the federal bench a year later despite having graduated from law school only five years earlier.
He was promoted in 1994 (at 38) as head of the powerful 11th Circuit Criminal Court - and remained in the post despite 75 formal complaints before the Council of Magistrates for malfeasance, abuse of power, illicit enrichment, and other charges.
A finding of "partiality" in favor of defendants led to his 2005 removal as presiding judge in the case involving the cover-up of the 1994 AMIA bombing - which left 85 dead in a Buenos Aires Jewish community center, and remains unsolved.
The AMIA prosecutor at the time, Alberto Nisman, later accused Bonadío of threats against his life and his family. Nisman was found dead in 2015.
Bonadío's own death comes a year after recordings of indicted extortionist Marcelo d'Alessio, an intelligence (AFI) agent, showed d'Alessio boasting of a shakedown scheme that had netted $12 million since August 2018, and that the scheme was run by a close Bonadío collaborator - the now-indicted Federal Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli.
"Stornelli is Macri," d'Alessio said in the recordings. "Claudio (Bonadío) will want a cut too."
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Claudio Bonadío, 1956-2020.
The public face of former President Macri's weaponized judiciary against opponents, Bonadío remained on the federal bench despite - and perhaps because - of his practice of denying defendants access to evidence and case files, while granting others an immediate dismissal of charges.
Evidence emerging a year ago of a large-scale extortion scheme by a close associate - in which Bonadío was named - led to renewed calls for his removal and prosecution.
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