Hearing in Madrid on Fraud Case Involving Nigerian Passport Holder
Next Tuesday, a Madrid Provincial Court will hear a case against a woman holding a Nigerian passport, accused of fraud involving a sum of 460,242.86 euros. The individual is alleged to have defected from the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in 2021, a period when the federation was led by Luis Rubiales. The suspect allegedly impersonated Athletic Bilbao’s chief executive to secure a transfer of the specified amount to a bank account she controlled.
The events trace back to 2021, with the defendant using the acronym RAAY and an impersonator of Athletic’s then- and current-chief executive, a person without a criminal record named Jon Berasategi. Investigators believe there could be multiple people involved and even suspect that a criminal network is behind the alleged crime, though the defendant remains the only person seated as the accused in the current proceedings.
Plot details point to information compromised from the Athletic manager’s computer, revealing that the RFEF had an outstanding payment related to the decision not to stage Euro 2020 in Bilbao. The dispute involved divergences between UEFA and the Basque Government over COVID-19 protocols, and the payment in question was eventually shifted to Seville. The outstanding balance stood at 460,242.86 euros, and prosecutors allege the defendant used this background to draft an email pretending to be Berasategi and request payment to a rival account that differed from the legitimate one on file.
Payment Suspended by the Bank
The director of security at the federal agency, the person who received the fraudulent email, ordered the transfer to the counterfeit account on the same day. The RFEF promptly detected the fraud and contacted the bank to halt the transfer, successfully stopping the payment before any funds left the legitimate account.
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The scam did not reach its target because the money was recovered by the RFEF before any criminal payoff could be realized, prompting the case to be handed to the National Police. The defendant was arrested in Palma de Mallorca in December 2021. The Prosecutor’s Office seeks a three-year term for attempted computer fraud and filed charges against RAAY, noting there could be a cooperative partner involved who opened an account in their name, though no other suspects have been named in the current filings.
In addition to court actions, investigators stress the importance of rigorous checks within football governance bodies to prevent impersonation and spoofed communications. The episode underscores how quickly digital fraud can exploit official channels, and how fast institutions can respond when alerts are raised by internal teams and trusted security protocols. This case is used in training and policy reviews across clubs and leagues to strengthen fraud detection, authentication procedures, and incident response planning. (Source attribution: National Police files and court records.)