The case concerns an older brother who exploited his sibling’s reduced mental capacity. He allegedly pressured the signing of joint financial loans, failed to repay them, and used the victim’s home as collateral, threatening the stability of the victim’s habitual residence. The Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office indicates the defendant faces a five-year suspended prison term, a fine, and 144,260 euros in compensation for fraud. A hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday at the Barcelona Court.
The timeline begins in 2011 with the first loan and extends through 2015, when a Catalan court moved to seize the victim’s home for nonpayment on the latest loan used to settle portions of prior debts. In 2017 investigators began examining allegations of fraud by the accused, and the prosecution seeks to dismiss the other two defendants, suggesting they may not have been aware of the victim’s cognitive limitations.
cognitive decline
The prosecutor’s office asserts that the victim suffered a cerebrovascular event in 1993 followed by an aneurysm rupture, contributing to cognitive and memory impairments and a behavioral disorder. In civil proceedings the victim was declared partially incapacitated in October 2015.
Years earlier, on December 2, 2011, while living with these conditions, the defendant allegedly exploited the vulnerability and persuaded the victim to formalize a solidarity loan amounting to 47,091 euros. The prosecution describes this as a degradation-driven act intended to unjustly enrich the defendant at the victim’s expense. A special trust relationship connected the parties.
credit chain
The first loan was concluded and signed in the presence of a notary, bearing an annual interest rate of 10 percent and a single repayment term of 51,800 euros. The prosecution contends that the payment was secured by the victim’s Barcelona address, with the victim presumably unaware of the consequences for their assets due to the loan terms and the victim’s mental state.
When that loan could not be liquidated, the defendant allegedly persuaded his brother to take out a second loan. On April 3, 2012, another loan of 15,190 euros was obtained with the victim’s home as collateral. The indictment states that the defendant acted without awareness of the full scope of his actions due to the illness he endured.
The pattern continued as none of the loans were fully repaid and lenders pursued enforcement of the agreements. In response, the accused allegedly deceived his brother again and secured a third loan of 106,040 euros from a real estate agency in June 2014, with the brother’s residence again provided as collateral. Part of this amount was allocated to cover debts from the previous loans.
When the third loan remained unpaid, the real estate company initiated proceedings to seize the victim’s residence in 2015. The civil court handling the case ordered a lien action. The total sought in the proceedings amounted to 144,260 euros and interest, representing the claimed compensation. The report does not specify how the third loan default was ultimately resolved.