Lawyer sentenced for keeping severance pay for client dismissal – Spain

A lawyer and social graduate from Alicante has been sentenced by the Provincial Court to nine months in prison for appropriating the severance pay paid by the Salary Guarantee Fund to one of his clients, a foreign national.

The sentence, handed down by a court of the Third Section and against which an appeal may be lodged, considers it proven that the defendant managed the claim on behalf of his client for an amount of 11,958 euros and caused it to be entered into a bank account “with intent to benefit “from said sum.

The layoff occurred in 2015 and compensation was transferred in March 2016.

The client stated in the trial that, when questioning the defendant about his claim, “he did not give him an answer on the perception of compensation” and that it was when he went directly to the Social Guarantee Fund when he learned that said compensation had already been deposited in the account provided by your legal representative.

He then decided to file the complaint that gave rise to the criminal procedure against the lawyer.

For his part, the defendant admitted that he had handled the complainant’s claim and that it was he who had received it, but claimed that he had reached an agreement with his client by which he would transfer the funds “when he had the means to do so.” that he was going through “a bad economic moment.”