In the early 2000s, Mario Navarro-Rubio and his ex-wife Mónica Cobián marketed a scheme they branded as peace of mind for tenants. Over time, a flood of complaints reached judicial offices as hundreds of claims accumulated on a platform built by those affected, many of whom remain active years later. Although courts have not fully sided with them to date, a conviction has been handed down for fraud in what was billed as a peace sale. Madrid’s highest court fined Navarro-Rubio and Cobián 3.2 million euros each and sentenced them to two years in prison for organizing a network of firms that suppressed Social Security payments.
EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, a member of the Prensa Ibérica group, reported the January 10 decision. An appeal continues at the Supreme Court, challenging the Madrid Second Chamber’s September 2022 ruling in favor of the earlier verdict.
The venture began in 2000 when Navarro-Rubio, Cobián, and Pilar Rodríguez promoted a product named Rental Guarantee. It appeared in media circuits, received endorsements from real estate agents, and even sold through tobacco shops. The promise was simple: for a modest initial fee of 42 euros, consumers would be guaranteed that a tenant who did not pay rent would trigger an independent arbitration process, eliminating lengthy judicial battles and saving time and money.
They tried to avoid payment of more than one million euros
What looked like a quick solution soon escalated into more than 200 legal complaints. Yet the Madrid County Court reportedly dismissed the case in 2020. By that time, Cobián and Navarro-Rubio had already established a structural framework intended to dodge Social Security contributions, according to the Madrid Supreme Court.
Together, they built what prosecutors described as a “network” of organizations that operated as a single business group. They allegedly hid these activities from the General Treasury of the Social Security, complicating inspections and obscuring the scale of the underlying debt and the creditors’ knowledge.
Forensic documents reviewed by this publication show that multiple companies accumulated separate debts between 2015 and 2018, with nonpayment of Social Security premiums becoming a fragmented affair.
By dividing totals across several firms and across four different financial years, the sums appear small at first glance. For instance, the 2015 debt recorded by a company called Spanish Arbitration Court Promotion ranged around 626 euros. Yet other entities carried larger defaults. NCR Servicios Jurídicos stopped paying 234,559 euros between 2015 and 2018, while Avantis Pólizas seeks to shield 408,811 euros in the same period.
When totalled across all entities protected under Navarro-Rubio and Cobián’s umbrella, the Madrid County Court calculated an unpaid sum of 1,079,477 euros. This is the figure that the court and the Madrid Supreme Court recognized as due to the Social Security General Treasury.
The court also imposed a substantial fine of 2,158,935 euros, based on the finding that creating these companies showed deliberate intent to dodge quotas and to evade consequences through fraudulent means.
The defense argued that the alleged corporate network emerged from a perceived onslaught against Navarro-Rubio and his firms, including hostile social media campaigns, which allegedly left them with no choice but to form new entities that could be damaged by ongoing attacks.
Rental Guarantee
One of the two key firms tasked with reviving the failed Rental Guarantee scheme, NCR Servicios Jurídicos, was accompanied by Avantis Legal. In 2014, years after the product’s discontinuation, these two front companies presented themselves as independent law firms and contacted customers to apologize for the distress allegedly caused by a third party within the Cobián circle.
They claimed that under the banner of new offices they were pursuing the miscreant tenants and that the collection process could restart to recover 345 euros in owed payments. By 2016, affected clients reported that promised debt collections had not materialized. Instead, a fresh invoice of 2,600 euros appeared for alleged legal services, with additional pressure applied by phone and email for immediate payment.
Some clients described receiving abusive messages and being placed on defaulter lists. The psychological impact on certain individuals was noted by those affected.