Guillermo Héctor Álvarez Cuevas (born 8 September 1945), better known as Billy Álvarez, is the former general director of ''La Cooperativa La Cruz Azul S.C.L.'', former president of the Mexican football club

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

, former footballer, and wanted fugitive. Álvarez Cuevas is currently wanted by

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

in 195 countries on various crimes including multiple accounts of

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

, and

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

. He is the son of

Guillermo Álvarez Macías Guillermo Álvarez Macías (16 October 1919 – 18 December 1976) was a Mexican general manager of the co-operative cement company Cooperativa La Cruz Azul, S.C.L. from 1955 until his death in 1976. Álvarez Macías led the company's re-foundatio ...

who was the founder and first general director of the Cruz Azul cooperative.

Early life

Guillermo Héctor Álvarez Cuevas was born on 8 September 1945, to Guillermo Álvarez Macías and María del Carmen Cuevas Saldaña in the town of Jasso,

Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico :''Most, if not all, named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753–1811)'' * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coah ...

. Álvarez Cuevas is the eldest of three siblings: Jose Alfredo, María del Carmen and María Gilda. Álvarez briefly played professional football at

Cruz Azul Hidalgo Club Deportivo Cruz Azul Hidalgo, also known as Cruz Azul Hidalgo, was a professional football club in Mexico who last played in the Liga Premier league of Mexico. Their stadium was the Estadio 10 de Diciembre located in Ciudad Cooperativa Cruz A ...

as a forward in 1976. He was elected to

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

for the 1994–1997 period, representing the third district of Hidalgo in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

for the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...

(PRI).

Career

In 1986, Álvarez became president of the football club

. He was later appointed chairman of Cooperativa La Cruz Azul S.C.L on 1 July 1988.

Criminal Indictments

On 28 May 2020, the Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera froze the financial accounts of Álvarez, his brother José Alfredo Álvarez, and ex-vice president of

Víctor Manuel Garcés, citing

and financial ties to

shell companies A shell corporation is a company or corporation with no significant assets or operations often formed to obtain financing before beginning business. Shell companies were primarily vehicles for lawfully hiding the identity of their beneficial ...

worth over 300 million pesos (approx. US$15 million). Their investigation suggested between 2013 and 2020, 1.2 billion Mexican pesos (US$60.6 million) were transferred from the Cruz Azul Cooperative into personal offshore bank accounts, namely in the United States and Spain. On 26 July 2020, the Attorney General of Mexico,

Alejandro Gertz Manero Alejandro Gertz Manero (born 31 October 1939) is a Mexican lawyer and Attorney General of Mexico. He served as Secretary of Public Security during part of Vicente Fox's government. From 2009 to 2012 he served as Deputy of the LXI Legislature of ...

, issued an arrest warrant for Álvarez and Garcés for ties with criminal organizations. Arrest warrants were also issued for directors of the Cruz Azul Cooperative Miguel Eduardo Borrell, Mario Sánchez Álvarez, and Ángel Martín Junquera.

faced disaffiliation from the

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (), abbreviated as FMF is the official governing body of football in Mexico. It administers the men's and women's national teams with all its youth teams, the national teams of futsal and beach soccer, Liga MX wit ...

as a result of Álvarez's legal issues. He resigned as the general manager of the co-operative and subsequently stepped down as president of the football club on 1 August 2020, after 32 years as acting president. Jamie Ordiales was then appointed as the co-operative's general manager and the club's president. After over four years as a fugitive from justice, Álvarez was arrested in Mexico City on 16 January 2025 and taken to the

Penal del Altiplano The Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 "Altiplano" () is a maximum security federal prison of the Secretariat of Public Security in Mexico. It was originally called the ''Penal de Máxima Seguridad No. 1 "Almoloya de Juárez",'' later re ...

federal maximum security prison.

Personal life

Álvarez Cuevas's daughter, Mónica Álvarez Álvarez, died of brain cancer at the age of 24 on 16 December 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Álvarez, Billy Living people 1945 births 20th-century Mexican businesspeople 21st-century Mexican businesspeople Financial scandals Footballers from Hidalgo (state) Mexican people convicted of money laundering Men's association football players not categorized by position Mexican men's footballers Universidad La Salle México alumni 20th-century Mexican sportsmen