Pedro Pablo Larraín, president of Sartor, filed a criminal complaint against Solange Berstein, head of Chile's Financial Market Commission (CMF), for allegedly issuing a premature opinion on an ongoing sanctioning process. The legal action accuses Berstein of breaching the law by publicly commenting on Sartor AGF's infractions in an interview. This took place before the CMF board finalized fines and revoked the administrator's authorization.
Last Friday, Pedro Pablo Larraín filed the complaint in Santiago's 7th Guarantee Court, sponsored by lawyers Jaime Winter and Jorge Cabrera from the Winter Etcheberry firm. The eight-page document claims Berstein committed the offense outlined in article 28 of Law N° 21.000, which bars regulatory officials from opining on matters under their review.
The events trace back to May 7, 2025, three weeks after CMF investigator Andrés Montes filed charges against Sartor AGF and its executives for alleged violations of laws including N° 20.712 on third-party funds, N° 18.045 on securities markets, and N° 18.046 on corporations. In a La Tercera interview that day, Berstein stated: “The CMF's decision to intervene and liquidate Sartor was made to protect investors' money. The funds were being managed negligently and not to maximize investor interests […] This is a complicated situation; we found an AGF with deficient fund management.”
The complaint argues these remarks formed a premature judgment, as the sanctioning process remained unresolved. Larraín contends Berstein was aware of the investigated facts and that her words prejudged infractions under articles such as 17, 20, and following of the Unified Funds Law.
On November 18, 2025, the CMF board, with Berstein's favorable vote—despite her prior opinion—revoked Sartor AGF's authorization and levied fines on executives ranging from 22,000 to 80,000 UF, the highest on Larraín himself. The defense had requested Berstein's recusal in writing and during the hearing, but it was disregarded, described as willful misconduct.
Neither Larraín's defense nor the CMF has commented until the complaint is processed by the court.