Carlos García Roldán, known as Charly, has been sentenced to fourteen and a half years for what was the biggest ever property scam committed in the Balearics.
García Roldán was accused of having been the leader of a property fraud that affected 235 people and which was said to have been valued at some three million euros. The first complaint against him was lodged on March 8, 2018. He was summoned to appear before a court on April 9 of that year, but he had disappeared. He had gone to Colombia, where he was to change his appearance radically. The owner of a company in Mallorca called Lujocasa, he was arrested in Buga, Colombia on February 4, 2019 and subsequently extradited to Spain.
Almost seven years after his arrest in Colombia, the Provincial Court in Palma has now found him guilty of having masterminded the scam. His former business partner Michele Pilato, also found guilty, has been sentenced to nine years.
The court considered it proven that what happened with Lujocasa was a predetermined plan for "massive fundraising" without the intention of building anything. The funds from buyers were spent on an extravagant lifestyle that included gambling at casinos. As well as the prison sentences, the court has ordered the payment of more than two million euros compensation, an amount which could yet increase.
From the time of Lujocasa's creation in 2015 and until his flight to Colombia, there was a coordinated scheme to attract buyers and deceive them. Of more than thirty developments that were marketed, the company only managed to acquire the ownership of seven plots. Numerous off-plan homes were sold in respect of which there were no firm rights to the land that would allow the developments to be carried out - "a circumstance that was known to those who directed and controlled the activity".
García Roldán made the main decisions, signed contracts and controlled the money. In addition to fraud, he was convicted of being a member of a criminal organisation, of falsehood, punishable insolvency and money laundering.
As to Michele Pilato, the court ruled out the possibility that a person with his experience of the real-estate sector could have shared an office with García Roldán without having known that a large-scale fraud was taking place. He contributed to the customer acquisition strategy by providing a commercial infrastructure and the appearance of solvency.
A third person, an architect, is considered to have played a subordinate role and has been sentenced to fifteen months.
The Provincial Court's rulings are subject to appeal to the Balearic High Court.