Money transfers, identity theft, and a climate of terror: reconstruction of Manel Esteller's departure from the Josep Carreras Institute

BarcelonaHe is a scientist of the highest international prestige for his cancer research, but Manel Esteller didn't do his work solely with the resources available to him. Since 2019, the researcher has been directing the Josep Carreras Research Institute (IJC), a center that, as the ARA has advanced, has been forced to release the results of an audit that analyzed the institute's financial management over the past five years. This and other documents and testimony confirm the existence of a series of accounting irregularities, abuse of power, and impersonation of scientists to benefit the search for Esteller.

Over the course of a year and a half of investigation, ARA has spoken with around fifteen current and former IJC employees and has accessed the minutes of the board of trustees, internal reports, and emails. It has also obtained access, through the transparency law, to the audit conducted by KPMG. Both the documentation and witnesses show that Esteller, through the IJC management and with the passive participation of honorary director Evarist Feliu, diverted funds from other groups within the center—valued in the hundreds of thousands of euros—to support his own research, without the knowledge of either the researchers or the members of the board of trustees. This newspaper has contacted Manel Esteller, who has stated that he will not comment on the matter.

Esteller is an Icrea research professor, a position awarded by the Generalitat (Catalan Government) in recognition of scientific excellence. A 2024 study by Stanford University (USA) places him as the most influential cancer researcher in Spain and 124th in the world. He has also received numerous international and national awards, including the Gold Medal of Honor from the Parliament of Catalonia. Since the oncologist joined the IJC, the institution has grown exponentially—from six to 20 research groups—and has achieved goals such as obtaining accreditation as a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence from the Ministry of Science. Despite his value as a researcher, the audit reveals that Esteller leveraged his reputation as a scientist to use resources for his research that were not his responsibility and to favor it with the hiring of personnel.

Following several internal complaints, in June of last year the board of trustees of'IJC provisionally suspended Esteller from his duties, awaiting an audit to assess its management. Three months later, the oncologist resigned from the management arguing that he wanted to focus on research. Several sources have confirmed to ARA that he did so after a telephone conversation with the Minister of Research and Universities, Núria Montserrat, who insisted that he step aside.

The audit results were presented last spring to the board of trustees, which includes both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Research and Universities, given that the IJC is part of the Catalan Centers of Excellence in Research (CERCA). Consequently, sources at the IJC confirmed to the ARA that the oncologist will leave the institution in early December. According to his internal communication, he will assume the position of director of cancer genomics research at a center at Ohio State University (USA). Initially, Esteller wanted to maintain his position and salary as an Icrea researcher, but finally, following the publication of the ARA article on his departure, he requested a leave of absence.

The IJC is a foundation 77% owned by public institutions: the Generalitat of Catalonia (53.85%), Badalona City Council (7.69%), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (7.69%), and the University of Barcelona (7.69%). The private sector belongs to the Josep Carreras International Foundation (23.08%). When consulted by ARA, the Ministries of Health and Research attribute Esteller's departure "to the normal dynamic of researcher mobility between institutions of excellence." After learning of the audit, both departments began "their own investigations through the relevant units, which are still ongoing."

Scientific impersonation

One of the irregular practices highlighted in the audit occurred between 2020 and 2024 and affected two researchers at the center. According to an internal report, the management and administration team submitted applications for two grants on behalf of the researchers. start-up –grants awarded by the Josep Carreras Foundation for researchers to establish their laboratory–. The Foundation granted them amounts of €401,182 and €333,683, which were used to search for Esteller. The researchers were unaware of this and had no access to the funds.

Last March, after learning of this, the affected women filed a complaint with the IJC. The center initiated an internal procedure that concluded that there had been "scientific identity theft" and "malpractice," and that the lack of access to this fund "has affected the researchers' research capacity" and "undermined their scientific competitiveness."

Another case is that of a group leader who applied for an extraordinary call from the Foundation to fund projects related to COVID-19 and won two, totaling several tens of thousands of euros. "The money was transferred to the IJC, but it didn't appear as any cost line for my group. We never received a single cent, even though we carried out the projects, documented them, and prepared the corresponding reports. Where did that money go?" he told ARA.

Unjustified charges against groups

The IJC is funded through public and private resources, mostly from the Foundation. Some of the latter were irregularly managed and diverted to Esteller's search. The most common method was through cost lines, which are deposits assigned to a group or unit where the money granted by a funding body is placed. When a group needs to purchase services or products, the principal investigator or unit head chooses one of their cost centers and charges the expenses.

The audit confirms that amounts from cost lines were transferred in search of Esteller without the knowledge of those affected. The transfers modified the IJC's internal budget, but this was not reflected or reported in the financial justifications. The one who benefits the most is the start-up Dr. Esteller's case, which largely covered expenses and staffing. "Every time private money came into the IJC, he told management it was theirs, and that's what happened," explains one investigator. Another investigator explains that she had seen expenses attributed to her platform in the accounting application that weren't hers, and that, despite requesting an explanation from management, she had received no response.

Mercè Calvet preceded the management team mentioned in this audit and explains that she detected anomalies as soon as she took office. When she reported them, she received "pressure and psychological abuse, to the point of being excluded from meetings with managers from other centers without any explanation," she says. According to Calvet's account and corroborated by other witnesses, Esteller solicited contracts from researchers without opening a competitive selection process or posting vacancies with deadlines, as befits a public center. The same sources explain that management imposed the contracting of services and supplies to third parties "on demand," without any justification for their need or any accreditation of receipt of the contracted goods or products. This was done, according to the knowledgeable sources, "to satisfy personal interests or to comply with Esteller's requests for the installation of laboratories or equipment for her research group."

Regarding transfers and changes in cost centers, the head of management at the time states that "they were the responsibility of the finance department and management" and that when she detected "incidents," she reported them "through internal channels and to the competent authorities." Regarding hiring, she says that "they were processed according to need, budget, and technical-legal filters." "The director [Manel Esteller] directed specific requests to human resources; on my part in management, public procedures were followed. The anomalous hirings made by management are being analyzed by the competent bodies," she states.

A platform that didn't work

Both witnesses and documentation indicate that the management team was responsible for the irregularities. An internal report attributes to the management team hiring SetFile to implement a new technological platform that never worked. The company invoiced more than €240,000. An expert report concludes that "the tool is inoperable and nonfunctional and cannot be used fully or partially." However, the person involved says that "without the complete file, it cannot be confirmed that an irregularity occurred."

In this regard, Isabel Troytiño, who in 2019 was the IJC's head of communications, explains that "management tried to close deals with acquaintances and friends." To avoid having to hold a public tender, "it requested invoices with other NIFs for amounts less than €15,000, which is the legal limit."

At that time, management also budgeted, between 2021 and 2023, an extraordinary allocation of €400,000, which it attributed to the Ministry of Health. The administration never approved this contribution, but management included it in the budget, insisting that it had been agreed upon, according to an internal report. In a series of emails, Montse Llavayol, deputy director general of health research and innovation at the Ministry of Health, reiterates that this money had not been committed under any circumstances by the Generalitat. In this regard, the head of management states that "what existed were budget scenarios presented and endorsed by the governing body." Finally, in 2024, the IJC recorded losses of more than one million euros and implemented a contingency plan to cover the debt.

Despite not always having approved funds, according to the audit, the management team authorized the hiring of personnel to largely strengthen the Esteller unit. Most of the new contracts were signed in 2023, and another three in 2024, with some becoming permanent.

Climate of "terror"

The sources interviewed describe the atmosphere at the institution as a "reign of terror" and attribute the labor unrest "to the trio formed by Feliu, Esteller and management." "[Estrillero] is a rock star of science, one of the few scientific names that ordinary people know, always aligned with the Catalan governments. This has given him total impunity," notes a researcher at the center.

"When I raised my hand to report irregularities, I received threats," recalls Troytiño, head of communications at the IJC in 2019. "I went to talk to Evarist [Feliu], and he ignored me. I was on sick leave due to anxiety and depression. And they fired me." In less than a year, the daily discomfort and toxic work environment led to "numerous unscheduled sick leaves and dismissals, exaggerated by the short time the center had been operating, without any assessment or justification," says former manager Mercè Calvet. In the 2020-2023 period, there were seven dismissals, four of which were unfair.

Internal war

After Calvet left the IJC, sources close to the matter report that the new management team and the oncologist "were working together." This good relationship broke down in early 2024. In fact, an anonymous complaint of workplace harassment was filed against Esteller, with the management manager as the victim. Following an internal procedure, the consulting firm Saó Dispute Resolution concluded that the "dignity and integrity" of the victim had been violated, although the conduct could not be classified as harassment "because it did not meet the requirement of continuity over time." The report recommended an audit of the decision-making protocols and the monitoring of irregularities.

Following these conclusions, in June the IJC board of trustees considered revoking Esteller's provisional dismissal. Evarist Feliu defended him with a letter of support signed by twenty researchers at the center, emphasizing that the conflict between management and the director was on the way to being resolved. "How could you say you wouldn't sign, if your career depended on him, that he would sign a scientific article with you, that he would write a letter of recommendation for you to go elsewhere, that he would put his name on it when you asked for a research project to be granted to you?" asks one of the signatories.

Despite the letter, the board of trustees provisionally suspended Esteller's duties as director, and he now receives only his salary as an Icrea researcher, which can reach up to €117,000 per year. At the December 2 board meeting, Josep Carreras requested that both Esteller and the management team leave the center "to facilitate the entry into a new era and clean up the past," and asked Icrea to take the necessary action with the oncologist. At that meeting, Joan Gómez Pallarès, then Director General of Research at the Generalitat (Catalan Government), insisted that Esteller had passed the scientific evaluation with Icrea and that the Department of Research would find a way out for him. Sources familiar with this link link this to Pallarès's dismissal from his position by Minister Montserrat.

On April 22, 2025, the IJC appointed Ari Melnick as its new director following an international selection process. He is a highly recognized researcher in the field of hematological diseases and cancer epigenetics. In parallel, in the middle of last year, the Catalan Anti-Fraud Office received four complaints related to alleged irregularities at the IJC. Of these, two have been referred to the competent authority, one has been archived, and one is still being processed.

The management manager was fired a few months ago. "If these accusations were true, the appropriate procedure would be a disciplinary proceeding with guarantees, not a collective dismissal without a solid basis required by the Anti-Fraud Authority," she says in her defense. Evarist Feliu, who is also Josep Carreras' personal physician, remains president of the IJC's executive committee. ARA has contacted the company without receiving a response.

In a statement sent this Friday, the IJC confirmed that "the results of the audit have documented that, in some cases, the funds had been allocated to lines of scientific research other than those originally intended." The Josep Carreras Foundation states that, following these irregularities detected, "it has strengthened the work of its scientific committee in the selection and evaluation of projects and teams, and is introducing an IT platform to improve and streamline the application, selection, and project monitoring processes. It has also continued to measure the impact of the scientific output of the grants awarded."

""A very expensive leadership"

Before joining the IJC, Esteller worked at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), where he had promoted the epigenetics and cancer biology program for ten years. When he left, he took his entire team, made up of more than twenty people. "It was like losing Messi and six other good researchers, frankly," recalls IDIBELL director Gabriel Capella. "Esteller's endowment of resources was extraordinarily generous. In the name of Catalan science, we invested heavily in him and his researchers," Capella notes. "But he's a person, and there are many brilliant researchers. Evaluations, to be fair, should be based on the money and resources each person has available, because without the structures that support them, no Messi can grow," he adds. For Capella, it's clear that "Esteller has helped consolidate the IJC." However, he clarifies: "He has a leadership style that consumes a lot of resources at all levels."