The court has already determined, at least in the initial phase of the investigation of the case, who are responsible for the alleged scam that has spread along the Mediterranean coast selling apartments that have never been built and for which they charged an initial amount that, in Generally, it fluctuated between 12,000 and 55,000 euros. Francisco Manuel Torres González, his partner Catalina Cruz Jimera and her son, JJ Espinosa Cruz, are the alleged schemers of a plan that has marketed up to 1,172 model homes under the name of the company Grupo 21, for which they raised around 23 million of euros, according to the calculations of this newspaper. The judge, who has summoned the three this coming Thursday in her court in Roquetas de Mar, in Almería, will only act against Torres González, administrator of the company, from whom she will withdraw his passport and prohibit him from leaving Spain. She also forces him to appear in court on the first of every month.
It all started in 2021, in Águilas (Murcia). Grupo 21 offered the owner an exchange of the apartments that would be built later for 2,000 square meters of land. They even put up the sign for the new residential area, but they didn’t even make any progress in signing the deed and a bag of cement never entered the land. From then until the end of 2024, Grupo 21 has assembled a team of sellers who, with all their enthusiasm, according to the buyers, have put those more than a thousand homes on the market with a similar procedure: testing the landowners, pretending a future purchase and, without spending a penny, sell apartments there. Águilas was joined by Almería, Roquetas de Mar and Almuñécar, as places of alleged construction of 18 urbanizations. They were already on their way to building in Malaga when buyers began to realize that the operation seemed more like a scam than anything else. In December, they began to group together and file lawsuits.
In February, Civil Guard agents arrested the three now cited by the judge. Those arrested were released and on April 9 they were summoned by the Court of First Instance and Instruction 7 of Roquetas de Mar. According to a lawyer present at that session, the three refused to testify. Even without their statements, the person in charge of the court has issued an order to which this newspaper has had access in which she explains that “given the procedural phase in which we find ourselves, there are more than ample indications of the participation of the investigated person, Francisco Manuel Torres González … and taking into account the high penalty that could be imposed on him, and he could flee in order to evade the action of justice, we must adopt measures restricting his freedom.” This order concludes with the measures of deprivation of leaving Spain, retention of the passport in court and mandatory appearance every first of the month before the court or whenever the judge considers it appropriate.
Although the alleged scam includes hundreds of victims, around 1,000, who have already hired around a dozen lawyers, the case being handled by the Roquetas de Mar court currently concerns exclusively five people and a banking institution. , the Caja Rural del Sur, who are represented by three lawyers. This is because these lawyers are the ones who, for now, have opted for criminal proceedings. In fact, those affected are still debating in their Telegram groups about the best possible defense of their interests. While some have appealed by criminal means, others have done so by civil means, generally denouncing the banks into which they deposited the money, considering that they did not act diligently and according to regulations.
On the other hand, regardless of what the courts decide, some owners have opted for self-management to finally get the home they wanted. At this time, the owners of at least one of the developments have become a cooperative in order to buy the land and build the apartments that the alleged scammers denied them. Other plots have been purchased by different companies that have disassociated themselves from what happened there and have launched their own new promotions.
What affects most is what happens closest. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe
#judge #takes #precautionary #measures #leader #alleged #scam #homes #Mediterranean #coast