Alex Trelinski
125 people have been arrested during an 18-month Policia Nacional investigation into a gang who created 30 fake companies to defraud social security and offer Spanish residency to migrants.
It’s estimated that around €10 million was made by the criminal organisation via bogus invoices produced by two Elche lawyers.
The gang boss operated out of an Elche brothel which acted as a registered address for at least two bogus companies.
The leader was helped by a local law firm to commit fraud, money laundering, and falsifying documents to ‘legitimise’ the fake enterprises.
Over 100 police officers worked on bringing down the gang with four phases of arrests and raids.
The first phase saw home raids including the discovery of a cryptocurrency mining farm that was illegally hooked up to an electricity supply.
Phase two brought wide-ranging arrests of people who illegally collected Social Security benefits or had received unauthorised Spanish residency.
The third phase saw the arrest of owners of companies that got fake invoices from the gang to defraud the public treasury.
The final phase had six people arrested for bribery and the disclosure of official secrets including a Treasury official.
The public officer obtained confidential information from government databases and provided warnings of any investigations.
The Policia Nacional raids and seizures saw 80 bank accounts suspended with a balance of over €200,000.
€246,000 in cash and cryptocurrency was seized.
24 vehicles were impounded and the sale of ten properties in Alicante Province has been blocked.
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