Notorious Spanish fraudster ‘Little Nicolas’ collects fourth jail sentence

A NOTORIOUS Spanish fraudster known as ‘Little Nicolas’, due to the tender age at which his deceptions began, has been given his fourth jail term. This time around, the Madrid High Court has sentenced him to four years and three months for a ploy to access confidential information from police databases. 

Francisco Nicolas Gomez Iglesias, to give him his full name, was found guilty of creating an illegal scheme to get hold of this data, with the aim of ‘obtaining parallel income’ related to the ‘social and political environments’ that he frequented when he was first arrested back in 2014, the court ruled. 

To do so, the 29-year-old counted on the assistance of police officers from Madrid’s municipal force, who were supplying him with the number plates of vehicles that belonged to business leaders, and which he then made use of for his personal interests. 

Gomez Iglesias has now racked up a total of 12 years and five months for his fraudulent activities. 

Among the offences for which he has been found guilty, are faking his Spanish DNI identity card so that a friend could sit his university entrance exam on his behalf, for pretending to be an envoy for Spain’s King Felipe VI and the deputy prime minister, and for also posing as an envoy from Spain’s CNI intelligence service, according to Spanish daily El Pais.

‘Little Nicolas’ first hit the headlines back in 2014, when he was just 20 years old and details of his double life emerged. 

While he was studying law, he passed himself off as a figure with contacts in the political and business world, allegedly conning dozens of people by promising them business contracts thanks to his connections.

He is also accused of contacting major Spanish firms such as OHL and Acciona in a bid to extort them, and also fooled the town of Ribadeo into thinking that King Felipe VI was to make a visit there thanks to rumours that he had spread. 

Gomez Iglesias even managed to get himself invited to the coronation of King Felipe VI in 2014, before his web of deception became public. 

He has so far escaped jail thanks to appeals that he has filed against his sentences at Spain’s Supreme Court.

Read more:

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