Matías Campiani

Matías Campiani is an American-educated Argentine businessman. He is a former partner of Leadgate, a private equity firm. Campiani through Leadgate formerly served as CEO of Parmalat Uruguay, having successfully restructured the troubled company’s $32 million in debt and returned it to profitability prior to its sale to Venezuela’s Grupo Maldonado.

He is also the former CEO of PLUNA, the national airline of Uruguay, which was privatized and later liquidated by the Uruguayan government in 2012. Campiani has been imprisoned in Uruguay without charges since December 2013. Gustavo Herrero, executive director of the Harvard Business School Latin American Research Center, told The New York Times local politics were to blame for the imprisonment of Campiani and his private equity partners, who were also previously imprisoned without charges but have since been released, stating the Argentine executives were “ideal scapegoats.” A Mercero Press report covering the Pluna scandal likewise stated there was a “political” side to Leadgate, noting that when Pluna Leadgate was launched in 2007, when the now President Mujica was Agriculture Minister, he was “famous for commenting” about the private equity executives: “I don’t like the looks of these cocky Argentines from Buenos Aires, something smells no good.”

In May 2015, the Uruguayan Supreme Court took up his appeal for release given that Mr. Campiani had spent well over a year in jail without being formally charged. He was set free May 22nd, 2015 after 522 days in jail.

Six days after his release from jail, Matias Campiani was started to be investigated for drug trafficking and money laundry. He did a wire transfer while being in jail to a Paraguayan drug lord, something the attorney finds very strange since it is not legal in Uruguay to transfer money while imprisoned.

Campiani holds a Master's degree in Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA degree in Finance and Economics from Universidad Católica Argentina.