The Zaragoza Provincial Court has found Imaginarium’s insolvency proceedings culpable after the company ceased operations following 32 years of activity. The ruling condemns Federico Carrillo Zürcher, the former chief executive and main shareholder, to four years of disqualification from managing other people’s assets. He is also ordered to pay 801,927 euros to Imaginarium for delivering products to subsidiary companies and not collecting payment, despite those subsidiaries owing the group around 7 million euros at the time.
The decision dated June 21 confirms the earlier verdict issued a year ago by the Commercial Court Number 2 of Zaragoza, albeit with minor adjustments, according to legal sources consulted by this publication. It also imposes two-year disqualifications for three other board members, though they are exempted from repaying money to Imaginarium as initially demanded. The sentence is not yet final, and it remains possible to file a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court.
The court classified the insolvency case as culpable because the company allegedly presented a fictitious patrimonial situation, shifted banking operations to Portugal to avoid embargoes, and engaged in accounting irregularities and grave inaccuracies in documentation.
The ruling arrives amid the company’s ongoing liquidation process. Imaginarium entered insolvency proceedings in July 2022 with a reported debt load of 37 million euros and more than 800 creditors.
The conviction rests on the company’s lack of cooperation with the insolvency administrator, including withholding relevant information about its financial state despite multiple requests. It also penalizes serious accounting inaccuracies, the redirection of banking activity to a Portuguese account to dodge enforcement measures in Spain, and the provision of goods to subsidiaries without corresponding payment.
According to legal sources, Imaginarium maintained funds in one of those accounts, which meant the movement of operations to a Portuguese financial institution left the balances outside the reach of Spanish creditors seeking to recover money owed by the company.