Alvise Pérez spent a good part of his campaign for the last European elections speaking with Álvaro Romillo, a businessman in the cryptocurrency sector who, according to what the Public Prosecutor’s Office is now investigating, gave him 100,000 euros in cash to finance his political adventure. The messages reflect how grateful the then candidate and now MEP was: “Everything ok! 100,000 thanks, Luis,” Alvise wrote to his interlocutor after receiving that amount from one of the financier’s collaborators. The Public Prosecutor’s Office is now analyzing whether that money served to fund his campaign and whether he could have committed a crime of illegal financing.
This communication is contained in the chain of messages that the founder of Madeira Invest Club (MIC), the investment office sponsored by the far-right agitator and which was unexpectedly closed last week, delivered to the Public Prosecutor’s Office on September 19. A confession document was accompanied by conversations in which Alvise participated and which the businessman provided along with an expert report that proves its veracity.
On Tuesday afternoon, this newspaper tried to contact the MEP by phone, email and one of his advisors, but received no response. On Wednesday, Alvise addressed his followers in a video in which he did not explain the information in elDiario.es, limiting himself to announcing the arrival of a “catharsis” and referring to the “media mafia”.
As elDiario.es exclusively revealed on Tuesday, Alvise contacted the founder of MIC at the end of March. For weeks they talked about cryptocurrencies and the economic and logistical needs of the leader of Se Acabó La Fiesta to finance his candidacy. On May 25, the businessman opened several digital wallets for him or wallets to channel donations from his followers.
In the following days, the founder of MIC kept him informed of the money that was coming in. By 26 May he had already raised just over 7,000 euros. But the amount did not seem enough to him to cover the expenses of his race for the European Parliament. “That’s great! But it’s going too slowly. Time is eating away at me for the campaign payments,” Alvise replied.
It was just a few hours later, in the early hours of May 27, when the businessman told him that he had been “looking through” the matter and that he could come to pick up €100,000 in cash at the offices of Sentinel, a company owned by the same person as MIC that has 5,000 fortified safe deposit boxes in the centre of Madrid and that allows money exchanges to be carried out under a promise of total confidentiality: behind the back of the Treasury and bypassing the anti-fraud measures that financial institutions are required to follow.
In fact, in the message the businessman alludes to the possibility that the leader of SALF would record a video advertising the benefits of this custody system so that his “community” could learn about it. In previous conversations, the businessman had told Alvise that he knew “people who have money” and who might be interested in making contributions to the politician as a kind of “investment” or “collaboration” in exchange for him advertising “services” such as Sentinel through his social networks.
“You are making it possible for me to urgently provide part of the campaign. Thank you so much, man,” Alvise replied to the offer of 100,000 euros, according to the messages provided to the Prosecutor’s Office by the businessman. The delivery, according to the document, was successfully made at four in the afternoon on May 27 by an employee. “They have already told me that everything is ok,” wrote the businessman.
Alvise Pérez’s response was one of gratitude. “Everything ok! 100,000 thanks, Luis,” Alvise said according to these messages. Money and financing were not a topic of conversation between the two in the following weeks. A little over a week later, Alvise Pérez and SALF finished their electoral race with more than 800,000 votes and three MEPs after a campaign characterized by the austerity of which Alvise himself boasted: a cap, a megaphone and ballots printed by himself to prevent electoral fraud that never occurred.
In these messages, Alvise suggests that he will use this money to finance his campaign and his political adventure after having explained that one of his needs was to be able to avoid the control of the Court of Auditors. The Attorney General’s Office has sent all this information to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court, before which Alvise is protected as a member of the European Parliament, in case he might have irregularly financed his group of voters.
The political party financing law It prohibits anonymous donations and establishes that political parties may not accept or receive, directly or indirectly, donations from a single person exceeding 50,000 euros per year, nor donations from legal entities. In addition, all donations exceeding 25,000 euros must be notified to the Court of Auditors by the political party within three months of their acceptance.
Madeira Invest Club closed suddenly on Monday, September 16. Until then, it had captivated hundreds of investors thanks to the exorbitant returns it offered, of up to 53%, with supposed investments in digital and intangible works of art and other luxury goods. The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) issued a an alert on this investment club on May 22, 2023 and warned that the company was not authorized to carry out activities reserved for collective investment institutions.
The National Court has already received several complaints from those affected, who have filed charges against those responsible for fraud, misappropriation, criminal organisation, falsification of commercial documents or money laundering. In his letter to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Romillo offers to liquidate his assets to compensate the investors, who may number several hundred and who have lost tens of millions of euros, according to the aforementioned complaints.
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