Two businessmen jailed for €81,500 advertising scam in Gran Canaria
The Spanish Supreme Court has confirmed the conviction of two Gran Canaria businessmen who defrauded an advertising company out of €81,500. Both men must serve prison sentences of 18 months and one year, and pay fines of €1,300 and €2,200. However, the court dropped an additional charge of document forgery.
The case goes back to 2013, when the two men set up a company pretending to be linked to a major international online retailer.
Using this false connection, they launched an online business selling goods to the public.
In early 2014, they hired a publicity company to run a large advertising campaign worth €81,500. The court found that they had no money from the very beginning and deliberately tried to give the impression that they were financially backed by the international retailer. Judges ruled they never intended to pay for the campaign at all, but acted purely to make a profit through deception.
The businessmen even asked for the invoices to be made out in the name of the supposed multinational company, despite never having any agreement with it.
Although the court upheld the fraud conviction, it rejected the charge of falsifying documents. The judges said that while it was unusual for the men to ask for invoices in the name of a foreign company they did not represent, this alone was not enough to be considered a crime.
At the Supreme Court hearing, both men denied any wrongdoing and called the original ruling “irrational and inconsistent.” But the judges said their appeal contained no proper evidence or clear arguments to challenge the earlier decision.
In the end, the Supreme Court found that the first ruling had carefully examined all the evidence and fully explained why the men were guilty.
With this latest decision, the conviction is now final. The two businessmen must serve their prison sentences and pay the fines, while the advertising company is officially recognised as the victim of the fraud.
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