The Pittsburgh Steelers have always been one of the NFL’s more progressive organizations, but one minority owner is set to benefit from President Donald Trump’s right-wing Argentine bailout.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, under the ownership of the Rooney family, have long been considered one of the most progressive leaning organizations in the National Football League. That made a new Popular Information report on Steelers minority owner Robert Citrone’s financial dealings all the more notable.
According to Popular Information, Citrone will reap the rewards of the Trump administration’s $20 billion bailout of Argentina, which has fallen into an economic crisis under the leadership of right-wing libertarian president Javier Milei.
Citrone, a hedge fund investor and co-founder of Discovery Capital Management, has invested heavily in Argentina since Milei became president in 2023, buying up the country’s debt and taking a stake in several big Argentine companies.
“Due to Argentina’s massive debt load and chaotic economic history — in 2023, Argentina’s inflation rate was over 200% — Citrone purchased Argentine bonds with an interest rate of nearly 20%,” the article reads.
Citrone purchased even more Argentine bonds in the days leading up to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s announcement that the US would provide a $20 billion currency swap—trading dollars for pesos—to rescue Argentina’s ailing economy, which has increased the value of Argentine bonds, stocks, and the peso.
That, in turn, stands to benefit Citrone, who is reportedly close friends with Bessent, according to Popular Information and Mother Jones. In fact, Citrone reportedly urged Bessent to support an International Monetary Fund currency stabilization deal for Argentina earlier this year, which Bessent did. That deal ultimately failed to rescue the country’s economy, prompting Citrone to call for another bailout.
Perfil, an Argentine media outlet, reported that after recent elections, Citrone “returned to his friend and former colleague… to request a second bailout, this time from the very coffers Bessent manages: the US Treasury.”
“It has helped tremendously that the US has come in to support Milei, and it will pay dividends for the US strategically,” Citrone told Bloomberg in an interview last week.
It has also paid enormous dividends for Citrone.
While Milei’s economic program of deregulating markets and industries, slashing government spending on social programs, and firing tens of thousands of government workers has devastated many of Argentina’s poorest, it contributed to Discovery Capital’s 52% return in 2025, according to Bloomberg.
The Pittsburgh Steelers declined to provide comment.
