Crimes of falsehood, fraud, and money laundering

The Supreme Court (TS) has confirmed the judgment of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia that convicted a man and his partner for a scheme of fraudulent charges with cards through point of sale terminals (POS), using for this purpose bank accounts opened in different entities and, in many cases, false identities and falsified residence permits. According to the proven facts, the accused

created companies that actually had no activity, opened numerous bank accounts in various entities, and requested several POS terminals linked to those accounts. With those POS terminals, he made charges for "fictitious operations" using fraudulent cards (originating from the United Kingdom and Spain). Some of those charges were authorized and others were denied. The banking entities ended up suffering an economic harm after the reversal of operations and the refund to the cardholders. economic loss following the retransfer of operations and the return to cardholders.

Furthermore, the money was moved between multiple accounts through transfers and cash withdrawals, with the intention of complicating its tracing and giving it an appearance of legality. Therefore, in addition to forgery and fraud, the defendant was also convicted of money laundering .

In cassation, the accused argued, among other things, that there was not enough evidence of the harm and that the fake documentation was "crude", so the banks should have detected it. The Supreme Court rejects these arguments by validating the evidence used (witnesses and investigating agents, as well as documentation) and reminds that the responsibility for the deception cannot be transferred to the victims if the perpetrator achieves their goal.

The accused, for her part, argued that did not know that the money she received in her account (presented as paychecks) had an illicit origin . The Supreme Court upholds the conviction understanding that there are sufficient indications to conclude that knew or should have known the origin of the money. Therefore, the Supreme Court confirms the convictions and rejects the appeals.

In proceedings arising from acts that could constitute a criminal offense, our lawyers are at your disposal for the defense of your rights