Barcelona readers following the Plus Ultra case will note that Spain’s Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit, UDEF, has dismissed conspiracy theories about the mobile phone of Rodolfo Reyes, a majority shareholder in the airline. The device was seized by US authorities in Miami, and its contents have become central to the wider investigation.
According to the UDEF report, US Homeland Security Investigations, HSI, obtained Reyes’ phone in Florida. Investigators analysed it because of activity linked to money laundering and evasion of US sanctions. The report says Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas S.A. was among the companies identified on the device.
US authorities later concluded that the extracted information could be of interest to Spanish authorities and relevant to criminal proceedings. After the necessary authorisations were secured, the data was shared for use in Spain, where it has helped redirect the case towards former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
The report, as accessed by laSexta, says Zapatero and his daughters, Alba and Laura Rodríguez Espinosa, allegedly received more than €4 million over five years from payments made by the Plus Ultra network and other companies. It also states that €2.5 million was found in accounts belonging to the former president and his daughters.
Those payments reportedly came from companies including Análisis Relevante, Inteligencia Prospectiva, Gate Center, Thinking Heads Group and Thinking Heads Americas. Police also say Zapatero received another €1.5 million from various companies for consultancy work.
Judge José Luis Calama, who is overseeing the National Court case, has frozen 19 bank accounts as part of the investigation. Six are in Zapatero’s name alone, and two are jointly held with his wife, Sonsoles Espinosa. For more Catalonia-wide reporting, see our news page.
