The provincial court reached a verdict in a case tied to a bank fraud ring centered on Alicante. The ruling described the defendants as part of a network that exploited falsified documents to secure loans from a bank that later struggled to recover the funds after the borrowers declared insolvency. The decision noted a total of about 100,000 euros involved with Caixa Galicia, and three individuals received prison terms while four were acquitted according to the court’s sentence, a copy of which this newspaper reviewed.
On the bench sat the individuals identified as core members of a scheme aimed at deceiving lending institutions. The group recruited financially vulnerable people, encouraging them to apply for loans using forged proof of income and other false documents. Funds allegedly flowed to the network leaders, while the bank determined that recovery would be unlikely due to the applicants’ apparent insolvency and, in some cases, bankruptcy proceedings.
ringleader murder
The court described the alleged ringleader of the operation, Jesús Fernández Utrera, as a person linked to the gang. He disappeared in 2008 and, in 2011, his body was discovered in an abandoned house near Maigmó. Numerous similar cases involving other banks and the same fraudulent modus operandi had been investigated, yet he never stood trial for those crimes.
Authorities indicated that the money obtained through these scams fueled drug trafficking activities, and that those behind the network were believed to have killed him in a confrontation. No trial followed for the homicide.
unnecessary delays
The court noted that three individuals admitted to applying for loans while aware that their documents were forged. It acknowledged delays in the proceedings and invoked mitigation for unnecessary delays, a factor that contributed to years of paralysis in the case. Some prison sentences were replaced with fines or community service.
In other cases tied to the organization, the facts were found to be accurate. Lawyer Laureano del Castillo argued that the initial declarations already established the core facts, with other defenses added later. The court accepted the statute of limitations for some but not all of the matters.
Executives acquitted
Among those acquitted were a bank manager and a professional who had evaluated loan applications with forged documents, facing charges of cooperating with the organization. Others cleared of liability included individuals who claimed they were not seeking credit and asserted that someone else had used their personal data.
The entity affected by the case was Nova Caixa Galicia, which had formalized ten loans totaling 108,931 euros between October 2007 and February 2018, an amount the bank could not recover. In every instance, the loan requests were for car purchases from a local dealer in San Vicente del Raspeig.
The prosecution’s office contends there was little real activity, and the vehicles never ended up being purchased. Funds from the loans reportedly went directly to the network. Applicants were recorded as claiming they received payment in exchange for opening accounts at the bank. The group allegedly forged employment records to create the appearance of solvency, knowing the bank would struggle to recover the funds. Some participants were described as drug addicts or homeless individuals.
without collusion
The court found no conclusive evidence that the two administrators facing charges acted in concert with third parties to open accounts or request loans. It noted that the documents produced had been altered and that neither administrator could be shown to have acted in coordination with others. One of the two was a bank manager, the other ran a business that helped clients obtain loans, with Utrera among their clients.
The court observed that the bank manager was not identified by any defendant or witness as a participant in the loan operations, and it did not reach a definitive conclusion attributing the crimes to him. The chamber also noted that the bank’s internal audit did not confirm the manager’s involvement in the loan approvals, suggesting that an audit official should be called to clarify the procedure and any irregularities detected. Police reports had indicated that some documents resembled genuine payslips and were of questionable quality for the bank to consider legitimate.