Former Agent of Belén Esteban, Toño Sanchís, Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Misappropriating Nearly 400,000 Euros from His Client

Toño Sanchís has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Provincial Court of Madrid for misappropriating 388,868.14 euros from Belén Esteban while acting as her representative. He exploited the personal and professional trust she placed in him to divert part of the income generated by her artistic activities for his own benefit.

This is stated in a ruling accessed by Europa Press, which sentences him as the perpetrator of a continuous crime of misappropriation to two years in prison and six months of a fine with a daily quota of 10 euros, and to compensate Belén Esteban with the amount determined in the execution of the sentence.

The court found that Sanchís was responsible for the management and administration of the Agency of Services Lorant S.L. He was the one who "recruited Belén Esteban as a client, established a trust relationship, negotiated the representation contract, and decided the percentage of money paid by producers that should be invoiced in favor of Belén Esteban's companies, as well as the destination of the difference that was not paid, who decided to increase the percentage and take the difference."

The tribunal found Belén's account credible regarding the "personal relationship she had with him, which was of full trust, close friendship, and that she entrusted her affairs entirely to the accused."

The judges noted that "the trust Belén Esteban had in the accused was complete, so much so that she did not supervise the correctness of the agreed percentage calculations, merely receiving the amounts that were paid to her, until she detected irregularities in 2015."

"Throughout the performance of this activity, with the intention of obtaining illicit enrichment, the accused began to calculate percentages higher than the agreed 20%, and instructed the manager, Asesores Legales Madrid, S.L., to invoice amounts in favor of BEM Imagin, S.L. lower than the remaining 80%, keeping the difference for himself," the resolution states.

The indictment stated that on May 13, 2009, a contract was signed between C. L. R. R., acting as sole administrator and on behalf of the entity Agency of Services Lorant, S.L., of which she was a 50 percent partner, with Belén Esteban, acting on her own behalf and representing the entity Producciones Bem S.L.

Under this agreement, which was renewed annually until it expired in 2015, Belén appointed the agency as her exclusive representative for Spain and the world, and to whom she subsequently paid her representative against the presentation of invoices to be issued by the company Bem Imaging, S.L., after deducting a 20 percent remuneration on the gross amount received.

The accused, who was a 50% partner of the agency, was the one who prepared the invoices issued by the company Bem Imaging, S.L. to present them for payment to the Agency of Services Lorant, S.L., which then deposited the amounts derived from the execution of the contract.

However, during the contract's validity period, the accused appropriated a total amount of 362,248.14 euros plus the corresponding VAT by applying a commission higher than the stipulated 20 percent on the gross amount that the Agency of Services Lorant, S.L. had received in payment for B. E.'s artistic activity, thus issuing invoices from the company Bem Imaging, S.L. "for an amount lower than what would correspond for the agency to deposit the fees settled for the artistic services rendered."

Once the contract ended, and faced with the accused's refusal to account for his work, a lawsuit was filed by Belén Esteban, Ben Imaging S.L., and Producciones Bem S.L. against the Agency of Services Lorant, S.L., demanding the delivery of such amounts.

The lawsuit was fully upheld, condemning, among other pronouncements, to deliver to the plaintiff the sum of the mentioned amounts, a total of 388,868.14 euros, "an amount that, despite being required, the accused did not deliver."

Thus, the plaintiff only managed to recover 49,318.33 euros in cash and another 375,000 euros through the adjudication of the house in Villanueva del Pardillo "although it was encumbered with a mortgage pending payment of more than 200,000 euros."

Therefore, according to the Prosecutor's Office, the accused will have to compensate the company Bem Imaging, S.L. through its legal representative in the amount of 339,549.81 euros, an amount resulting from subtracting the 49,318.33 euros obtained in cash in the civil execution process from the total of 388,868.14 euros.