Man accused of €21m investment fraud found living in luxury villa in South Tenerife
A German national accused of orchestrating a multi-million euro investment fraud has been tracked down in Tenerife after years of allegedly deceiving hundreds of investors in his home country.
Officers from Spain’s National Police have been working in close cooperation with Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Baden-Württemberg, and have dismantled a criminal operation linked to fraud losses of more than €21 million between 2012 and 2019.
The main suspect is a 67-year-old man who had been living in the south of Tenerife. Investigators say he acted as managing director of several companies involved in the planning and marketing of real estate developments and used these roles to attract private investment. Through participation contracts, he allegedly persuaded investors to fund the construction of a hotel, a conference centre and a car park in the German city of Konstanz. These projects were never completed.
In 2018, Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) stepped in after detecting that the suspect was carrying out unauthorised banking activities. His operations were banned, and company accounts were frozen, leaving the German subsidiaries without funds and forcing the developments to a standstill.
Despite this intervention, police say the man continued to raise money illegally. According to investigators, he falsified contracts and withdrew more than €2 million for personal use, while securing a further €6 million from new investors by presenting the schemes as safe, high-return opportunities.
Given the scale of the alleged fraud, German authorities requested assistance from the National Police in Santa Cruz de Tenerife to locate the suspect and his partner, and to examine their assets and financial activity in Spain.
The operation culminated in the suspect’s arrest in Germany and the search of a luxury villa in the south of Tenerife, valued at around €2 million, where he had been living. During the raid, officers seized large amounts of documentation, electronic devices and cash, and ordered the freezing of his Spanish bank accounts.
The suspect now faces multiple charges, including repeated breaches of German banking law for carrying out unauthorised deposit-taking in at least 748 cases, causing losses of at least €21 million. He is also accused of fraud committed as part of a criminal organisation, document falsification and abuse of trust.
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