23 cars paid in advance, nearly €300,000 and none delivered. This is the result of a fraud case in a sale transaction between a couple and a dealership, which has ended up in court. Now a new chapter unfolds: the Superior Court of Justice of Galicia (TSXG) has just upheld the conviction.
The penalty requested was three and a half years in prison and the joint payment of an indemnity of almost €300,000 swindled. A sanction that the TSXG has now ratified. This is not the only car-fraud case involved in the equation: they are also accused of swindling a private individual.
The Ourense ‘Bonnie and Clyde’: a couple who took money for cars they never delivered
The case goes back to 2022: the owner of a dealership in Asturias agreed with one of the defendants to deliver 53 cars, paying in advance. Of the 53, he only received 26 vehicles, they refunded the money for four but not for the remaining 23. The amount paid for the cars that never reached the dealership amounted to €284,820. A motorcycle, arranged with the brother of the business owner, for which €13,100 was paid, was also not delivered.
As a consequence of such a gaping hole, the dealership owner says he had to sell properties to reimburse the money for the vehicles already agreed and paid by clients who had bought them. Meanwhile, the swindler gave excuses, delaying delivery times.
A married couple living in Ourense is implicated and accused of this fraud: Antonio G.F., responsible for negotiating the purchase and sale of the cars, and Filomena G.A., his wife, who actively participated in the fraud, being aware of the operations and facilitating the opening of bank accounts. Although the former defended his partner’s innocence, the judiciary has deemed her an accomplice to the fraud.
€298,000 in compensation and prison time. The corresponding complaint has led to a lengthy judicial process. Last April, the Ourense Provincial Court imposed the sentence for both: three and a half years in prison for each, the payment of €297,920 in compensation for the undelivered vehicles and a fine of €1,620. This sentence was appealed by the defendants to the TSXG, but has just been upheld by the Galician Court. The court holds that, given the proven prior commercial relationship, both committed fraud by accepting the order of the cars without the intention to deliver them.
The verdict, to which the local outlet La Región has had access, states that the accused, “driven by the aim of illicit enrichment,” accepted the advance payment for 23 vehicles, totaling €284,820, plus a motorcycle for €13,100, without making deliveries or returning the money.
Fraud against a private individual. This is not the only ongoing case against this couple. In April, a second trial was held in the Ourense Provincial Court regarding a complaint from an individual who claims to have been swindled for more than €100,000 in total. The reasons include the sale of a car not delivered for which a deposit was paid, as well as the repair of three other vehicles that the owner handed over and disappeared. In this case the process remains open and the Prosecutor’s Office seeks €107,000 in damages and sentences of five years for him and four years and six months for her.
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