Overview

• Álvaro Romillo lodged a report at the Madrid police station detailing how five assailants coerced him into transferring €1.2 million in digital assets from his home.
• The alleged extortion occurred on August 11, about a month after Romillo testified at Spain’s Supreme Court over a €100,000 payment to MEP Luis ‘Alvise’ Pérez.
• Investigators in the Audiencia Nacional are set to integrate the new violent extortion claim into their existing probe of the Madeira Invest Club pyramid scheme and related money flows.
• Romillo’s prior admission that he gave €100,000 to Pérez for ‘Centinel’ promotion is under scrutiny as prosecutors consider requesting a waiver of the MEP’s European Parliament immunity.
• Authorities face technical challenges tracing cryptocurrency transactions and unravelling transfers through shell companies to substantiate both the extortion and financial-crimes allegations.