The Mossos d’Esquadra have been conducting a macro device against drug and arms trafficking and money laundering in Badalona and other municipalities in the greater Barcelona area since 6:00 a.m. this Friday. Carles Ribas
Francisco Comitre, the lawyer and former model accused of masterminding Spain’s biggest real estate scam, has been sentenced to seven years and nine months in prison for drug trafficking. The Barcelona court found it proven that he and his partner sold stolen cocaine and marijuana to a patriarch named Tío José from the Sant Roc neighborhood (Badalona), who was also convicted. The judges conclude that Comitre, who was arrested on November 29, 2019 during a Mossos d’Esquadra macro-operation, committed the crimes of drug trafficking, money laundering and falsifying an official document, according to the verdict on which he THE LAND has access. In addition to imprisonment, it provides for the payment of a fine of 96,080 euros.
While it’s still undecided and subject to dispute, this is the first sentence on Comitre for events to come that are unrelated to those that made him a popular figure in the summer of 2015. The lawyer was subsequently arrested as the suspected leader of a conspiracy to swindle more than a hundred people (mostly the elderly) out of their homes. Prosecutors are asking for 20 years and nine months in prison for the lawyer they accuse of running the network along with two other people: Barcelona notary Enrique Peña – who faces a 14-year and 10-month sentence – and Artur Segarra, who fled to Thailand while the case was being investigated. There he is said to have dismembered a compatriot, a murder for which he is serving a life sentence. The victims of Comitre, Peña and Segarra signed supposed loans and financial products that in practice resulted in them losing their homes.
The verdict condemns the majority of those accused of a drug trafficking plot with its epicenter in the Sant Roc neighborhood of Badalona. Comitre’s connection to this network came from Melania Cabello, a 26-year-old girl who helped the organization cut, handle, and transport drugs for sale, and with whom she began a sentimental relationship. During their surveillance, the Mossos observed how, in the summer of 2019, Comitre began escorting Melania by car to deposit specified amounts of cocaine in containers agreed upon by the group. Tío José objected to Comitre’s participation because he knew of his past as an alleged elder scammer and, according to prosecutors, “feared being able to steal drugs and money from him”.
The patriarch’s intuition was spot on. The couple began selling cocaine and marijuana on their own, which Melania had previously stolen from one of the organization’s safe houses in Santa Coloma de Gramenet. The lawyer and the girl took the drugs to the house they lived in, in Matadepera, where they also amassed money. Searching the home, police found nearly $5,000 in cash, about a kilo of marijuana and a pink notebook the couple used to track sales. The verdict finds that Comitre committed money laundering in addition to a drug trafficking crime by attempting to “disguise the criminal origin of the monetary benefits” it received from drug trafficking activities. The Barcelona lawyer was also convicted of forgery for persuading third parties to put high-end cars (a Mercedes, a Tesla) in his name for a fee that he would actually use.
Prosecutors originally sought 16 years in prison for Comitre, who was authorized not to attend all the sessions of a very lengthy trial that was taking place in the city of justice, Barcelona. According to the sources consulted, Comitre continues to practice law.
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