Joan Laporta and some of his directors are accused of money laundering.

BarcelonaJoan Laporta and some of the directors who accompanied him during his last presidential term at Barça (2021-2026) have been accused of money laundering, accepting bribes, tax fraud, and belonging to a criminal organization. These are some of the alleged crimes they will have to defend themselves against if the National Court accepts a complaint filed last Friday night in Madrid by a Barça member, whose identity has not been revealed. The information was first reported by The NewspaperThis news has shaken the political landscape three weeks before the elections, in which Laporta and his party are the clear favorites against other candidates. The elections will be held on March 15th and are already overshadowed by a legal process that could result in prison sentences.

Apart from Laporta, those accused include the current Barça president Rafa Yuste, former institutional vice-president Elena Fort, former economic vice-president Eduard Romeu, former treasurer Ferran Olivé, secretary Josep Cubells, and General Manager Manel del Río, The head of compliance, Sergi Atienza, and the head of legal services, Pere Lluís Mellado, are also named in the complaint. The complaint also includes Xavier Laporta, the younger brother of the candidate for re-election, owner of the company Capital Planet SL, which appears in the documentation submitted to the court and is registered at the same address on Barcelona's Diagonal Avenue where Laporta has his professional office. Among the evidence presented by the prosecution are payments from Barça suppliers such as Nike, Spotify, and Limak to suspicious accounts located outside the European Union. The money—millions of euros—was then laundered back into Spain through supposedly legitimate businesses.

Five suspicious transactions

The commission of alleged crimes outside of Spanish jurisdiction is the reason the complainant partner has gone to the National Court, believing it to be the competent body to try these cases. According to the statement The Newspaper Regarding the same complaint, "the structure of the payment circuit for the illicit commissions and the reintroduction of the funds into Spain is based in foreign countries with opaque and non-cooperative tax systems." These countries are the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), Estonia, and Cyprus. The alleged scheme involves five key operations: the sale of the club's digital assets (Barça Vision) "under conditions detrimental to the entity," the awarding of the Camp Nou telecommunications contract to New Era Visionary Group without a bidding process, and the purchase of seats VIP by the company itself, the awarding of the Camp Nou works to Limak and the payment of the commission linked to the renewal of the sponsorship agreement with Nike.