Federal judge Advento Hernández Reyna has granted the definitive suspension without time limit of the arrest warrant issued last April against Alejandro Irarragorri, founder and president of Orlegi Sports and former president of Club Santos Laguna. The decision allows the amparo trial requested by his defense to move forward.
As published by Reforma, the Court also determined that preventive detention could not be executed in case it was requested during the appearance of the executive before the Control Judge in Torreón. The criminal case, derived from an accusation of an alleged tax fraud of more than US$700,000, was brought by the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the request of the SAT. Both Alejandro Irarragorri and Club Santos have categorically rejected the allegations.
In an institutional communication published on April 25, Santos Laguna – owned by Orlegi Sports – explained that the alleged arrest warrant was related to Alejandro Irarragorri’s alleged failure to attend a hearing convened by District Judge Luis Alfredo Mendoza García, in Torreón, Coahuila. However, the Club clarified that such statement did not correspond to the facts.
Alejandro Irarragorri’s legal actions in the context of the “SAT–Santos Laguna case”
According to the same press release, the executive duly participated in a virtual hearing held on Thursday, March 20. During the proceedings, the judge decided to suspend the hearing and to schedule a new session for Monday, March 24. The defense argues that, since no formal warning notice was issued, the failure to appear at the second meeting could not justify the imposition of precautionary measures. Consequently, his legal team filed a writ of amparo before the federal courts.
In his ruling, Judge Hernández Reyna argued that there are no elements that indicate Alejandro Irarragorri’s intention to evade the process. Therefore, he ordered that his arraignment hearing be held via videoconference, a legal alternative that ensures his presence and respect for due process.
The Court also determined that there are insufficient grounds to impose preventive detention without first evaluating the elements presented by the defense. According to the analysis published by Reforma, the judge acknowledged Irarragorri’s willingness to appear and considered it inappropriate to apply prior sanctions to a public figure linked to an institution such as Club Santos Laguna.
The criminal complaint was formalized in 2023, following an investigation opened by the Attorney General’s Office based on a request from the SAT. However, the background of the case dates back to 2020, when tax audits began on Club Santos’ income tax returns.
Since then, the conflict has gone from being an administrative dispute, originated in differences of interpretation of the applicable tax legislation, to a criminal one.
In the aforementioned communiqué, the institution of the Comarca Lagunera categorically rejected that a discrepancy of this nature, “which can and should be settled through administrative channels, be transferred to the criminal sphere”.
