I take issue with what you wrote @trencherman ‘de mortuis nihil nisi bonum’
Of course, you may not be aware that Roberto died in a domestic accident a few years ago. He was always a good friend to me - keeping in touch between my visits to Argentina, giving dinner parties for me when I was there, introducing me to his friends etc - and I was happy to reciprocate when he visited Europe.
AFAIK Roberto did not cease to be a friend when Tri “lost everything” (as you put it). Rather he never considered Tri to be a friend. Tri was merely an acquaintance, and made use of Roberto’s contacts in Buenos Aires. Roberto commented that he never understood Tri and what he did, and he assured me that he had seriously warned Tri about getting involved with the young Brazilian. Roberto related a number of incidents that had convinced him the young man was only there to make use of Tri and, what were to a dirt-poor Brazilian, his economic advantages.