Lisbon’s Judiciary Police (PJ) have arrested eight people on strong suspicion of aggravated fraud, money laundering, criminal association, and document forgery. The alleged ringleader and the remaining detainees, who acted under his direction, are accused of falsifying property records, unlawfully appropriating and selling homes belonging to golden visa holders who spent extended durations out of the country, making several million euros from the scheme.
The investigation began after foreign nationals complained that properties they had purchased. and did not regularly occupy, had been fraudulently sold in their name and without their consent. Subsequent inquiries uncovered further victims whose homes had been sold using forged documentation.
According to the PJ, the suspects presented identity documents, powers of attorney, and proof of payment to lawyers and solicitors, who then authenticated and electronically submitted them to the Land Registry. By exploiting these administrative mechanisms, they were able to transfer ownership of the properties to false or even non-existent identities.
Armed with fraudulent property records, the group would change the locks and contact investors and estate agents, expressing a desire to sell quickly at below-market prices.
The proceeds were then “channelled through a complex and concealed scheme of capital circulation”, the PJ said in a statement, involving the purchase and sale of other assets, such as luxury vehicles, as well as successive and fragmented transfers between bank accounts held by various companies under their control.
As part of Operation “Golden Key”, five men and three women aged between 26 and 62 were detained. Ten searches carried out in the Lisbon area, in the presence of judicial authorities and representatives of professional bodies, led to the seizure of “substantial evidential material, high-end vehicles, forged documentation, cash, and IT and telecommunications equipment”.
So far, investigators have recovered several properties and seized significant proceeds from their fraudulent sale, including bank balances of around €1.5 million. The suspects are due to be brought before a judge for initial questioning.
Source: JN
