A lawyer who worked for decades for Torrevieja City Council has accepted a plea bargain after being arrested for misappropriating court costs intended for the municipality. The agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office sees the lawyer receive a two-year prison sentence for fraud, avoiding a full trial and immediate imprisonment. This comes after the defendant admitted to the crime and returned almost all of the nearly 37,000 euro he embezzled from municipal accounts.
Under Spanish law, the convicted man will likely be able to request a suspension of his sentence since it does not exceed two years. The plea agreement follows initial demands from the City Council and the legal counsel for an eight-and-a-half-year sentence, which included six years for fraud and two and a half years for document forgery, alongside a professional misconduct fine and a four-year ban from practising law. By securing this deal, the lawyer avoids a lengthier prison term and can continue his professional activity.
In addition to the two-year term, the court has ordered the defendant to pay a five-month fine at a rate of eight euro per day for misappropriation. He must also pay civil liability of 1,500 euro plus interest on the final costs, interest accrued on all appropriated amounts, which is yet to be calculated, and all procedural costs.
The case began when the director of the municipal legal department noticed irregularities during a review of payments concerning court costs and interest. Investigations revealed that the solicitor had altered court documents and bank statements to divert funds. Instead of entering the City Council’s account, the money went directly into the lawyer’s personal account by swapping the official account details with his own.
The prosecution maintained that the man acted with a premeditated plan, exploiting his position of trust. When courts requested municipal account numbers, the lawyer would receive a digitally signed, editable document from the legal services. He then modified the text and the bank ownership certificate to insert his own details before submitting them to the relevant courts. To cover his tracks, he sent falsified Lexnet submission receipts back to the municipal lawyer, making it appear as though the documents had been processed correctly.
This fraudulent operation affected at least five legal proceedings across various bodies, including the High Court of Justice, the Administrative Court, and the Commercial Court, resulting in seven bank transfers to his account. A final investigation by the Economic Crimes Group of the Guardia Civil confirmed the tracking of these funds through bank and document analysis.
The illicit activity took place between 13th September 2024 and 30th April 2025, totalling 36,954.19 euro. The largest single transfer of 30,542 euro was returned immediately, though the Guardia Civil report noted this was only done after the lawyer was questioned and his actions were detected.
The solicitor had been allowed to continue representing the City Council on older matters initiated before a new legal defence contract was awarded on 21st November 2022. This allowed him to receive official communications and handle procedural steps, which he ultimately exploited.
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