London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Tax fraud, harassment suits: Unpicking the legal problems faced by Spain’s ex-king Juan Carlos I

Tax fraud, harassment suits: Unpicking the legal problems faced by Spain’s ex-king Juan Carlos I

A Swiss investigation has just been shelved, making the former monarch’s situation a little clearer, but he is still facing three probes by prosecutors at the Supreme Court

The cloud of legal woes hanging over Spain’s emeritus king Juan Carlos I is starting to clear away. On Monday, the Swiss justice system shelved an investigation into a $100 million (€65 million) payment that was made in a secret account at the Swiss bank Mirabaud & Cie, which the former monarch received in August 2008, when he was still head of state. This money was transferred on orders of the Saudi Arabian finance minister to an account belonging to Juan Carlos I in the name of a Panamanian foundation called Lucum.

The shelving of the three-year probe, led by Swiss prosecutor Yves Bertossa, puts a definitive end to the court proceedings faced by Juan Carlos in Switzerland. Although the former monarch was not under investigation, he could have been called to testify.

Since 2018, the Geneva public prosecutor’s office has been investigating alleged kickbacks for the contract to build the AVE high-speed rail link to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. In the court document to shelve the case, Bertossa stated that there was not enough evidence to link the $100 million payment from Saudi Arabia to Juan Carlos to the decision to award the contract to a Spanish consortium, nor to the fact that the consortium lowered its bid price by 30%.

However, in the court document, Bertossa also noted that there was a desire to “hide” the identities of the recipients and senders of the money – via Lucum foundation – from the Swiss bank Mirabaud & Cie, which opened the account where the $100 million transfer was made.

This lender has also been fined €48,000 for not informing the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) about two additional payments that were received by Juan Carlos’ former lover, Corinna Larsen: one for $5 million (€4.4 million), which she received from the National Bank of Kuwait, and another $2 million (€1.7 million) transfer from Bahrain. Larsen, a Monaco-based businesswoman who continues to use her German ex-husband’s aristocratic title, zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, received these payments shortly after Juan Carlos made official visits to both countries.

The scandal into these and other financial irregularities prompted Juan Carlos to move to Abu Dhabi, where he has been living since August 2020. Sources close to the former monarch indicate that he is keen to return to Spain, but this is unlikely to happen until all pending legal issues are resolved.

With the Swiss case shelved, Juan Carlos is now waiting for prosecutors from the Spanish Supreme Court to decide on how to proceed on three probes into allegations of tax fraud and other offenses involving international businesses. But it is likely that these investigations will also be shelved given that some of the crimes being investigated have clearly exceeded the statute of limitations, while others concern actions that dated from before 2014, when Juan Carlos enjoyed immunity thanks to his status as reigning monarch. With respect to alleged undeclared gifts, the former monarch filed two tax regularizations in December 2020 and February 2021, meaning this case can no longer be pursued in the courts.

If these investigations are also shelved, the only case remaining against Juan Carlos will be a civil lawsuit filed by Larsen over alleged harassment, illegal monitoring and libel.

Here is an explainer of the legal issues facing Spain’s emeritus king.

What was the Swiss prosecutor Yves Bertossa investigating?


Bertossa was investigating an alleged kickback payment of $100 million to Juan Carlos in 2008, for the contract to build the AVE high-speed rail link to Mecca, which was awarded to a Spanish consortium. Bertossa discovered that the consortium reduced its offer for the final stage of the project by 30%. The Swiss prosecutor was trying to ascertain whether three individuals – Larsen, who received an alleged $100 million donation from the former king in 2012; Arturo Fasana, the business manager for Juan Carlos who managed the Swiss bank account; and the lawyer Dante Canónica, the director of Lucum foundation – were guilty of money laundering. The bank Mirabaud & Cie was also investigated as a legal entity. The punishment for this crime is up to five years in prison.

Why was Juan Carlos not among those investigated?


Although the probe centered on a $100 million payment received by Juan Carlos, the emeritus king was not under investigation. Nor was he called to testify as a witness. According to sources close to the case, the possibility that Juan Carlos enjoyed immunity as reigning head of state during the period when the transfer was made influenced the Swiss prosecutor’s decision.

Was the $100 million in the Swiss bank account declared to the Spanish Tax Agency?


No, the money was not declared. Fasana, who managed the bank account and has been linked to other corruption cases including the infamous Gürtel kickbacks-for-contracts scheme in Spain, told Bertossa that 80% of his clients do not declare the money they keep in Switzerland. The Swiss bank also did not ask Juan Carlos if he had declared the funds, nor demanded that he do so.

Why has the case been shelved?


The Swiss prosecutor maintained that the three individuals under investigation – Larsen, Fasana and Canónica – were interested in hiding the payment, which is why it was made to a foundation based in Panama. Bertossa found that no proper explanation was given for the $100-million transfer, nor the other payments from Bahrain and Kuwait. But he recognized that the investigation, despite multiple testimonies from the three and the proceedings carried out, could not prove that the $100 million payment received by Juan Carlos I from the Saudi finance minister was a kickback for the contract to build the AVE rail link.

What cases are pending against Juan Carlos in Spain?


Prosecutors from the Spanish Supreme Court must soon decide how to proceed with three investigations that involve Juan Carlos I.

The first probe is into the possible payment of kickbacks for his role in securing a contract from Saudi Arabia that was awarded to a Spanish consortium of countries to build a high-speed AVE train link to Mecca. The second is an investigation into the alleged use of funds from a Mexican businessman, a friend of Juan Carlos’s, via a frontman. And the third concerns the former monarch’s alleged link to a trust in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, which he has denied. All three probes have been extended for six months, as Spanish investigators await information requested of Swiss prosecutors to be delivered.

What other investigations outside of Spain is Juan Carlos facing?


Corinna Larsen has filed a lawsuit against Juan Carlos in London for alleged harassment, illegal monitoring and libel. The Monaco-based businesswoman, who used to be romantically involved with Juan Carlos, has asked for an injunction restraining the emeritus king from contacting her, following her, defaming her or coming within a distance of 150 meters of her.

At the end of December 2020, Larsen detailed the harassment that she claims to have suffered as part of her lawsuit, attributing the events to Juan Carlos I directly or to figures acting in his name. These included Félix Sanz Roldán, the former director of Spain’s CNI secret services. Larsen argued that the behavior was designed to persuade her to return a €65 million gift that Juan Carlos had transferred to her “irrevocably” in 2012, or to restart their relationship.

In the extensive lawsuit, the businesswoman related the alleged threats, electronic surveillance and monitoring that she claims she and her team of consultants were subjected to, as well as the series of allegations that were aimed at her. The consequences of all of this, according to the legal filings, were anxiety and distress that have required medical treatment, led to the deterioration of her relationships with her children and other relatives, and the loss of many of her wealthy clients.

But whether or not this case prospers depends on whether Juan Carlos – as his lawyer argues – still enjoys immunity against prosecution as a “sovereign.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×