Bimbo Family Heirs Sue Lawyers for €31M Andorra Property Fraud

Heirs of the founding family behind Repostería Martínez, now owned by Bimbo, have filed a lawsuit in Madrid accusing their trusted lawyers of orchestrating a multimillion-euro fraud through a property development in Andorra's Tarter area.

The complaint, lodged before a Madrid investigative court and signed by lawyer Lucas Fernández de Bobadilla, targets attorneys José Antonio García-Cruces, Manuel Corcelles, and Alejandro Alvargonzález. These professionals managed the family's assets via Inversiones Montellano, which invested 31 million euros in 2021 with developer Alberto Fernández—an ex-military figure with no known experience in real estate.

Court documents reveal that the receiving entity, Altavista, was 50% owned by Fernández and 50% by companies controlled by the three lawyers. The family, lacking business or legal expertise, had fully delegated decisions to them. "This was not a conflict of interest: the lawyers were literally the other party to the contract," Fernández de Bobadilla stated.

The Arbres del Tarter I project promised to sell 45 apartments within 26 months and return 41 million euros. Construction overran by a year, with only 11 units sold. The lawyers then proposed a payment-in-kind arrangement, where Altavista kept 14 apartments worth over 20 million euros, while Montellano received 10. Querellants claim prices per square metre were artificially doubled to make it appear balanced, allowing the lawyers to retain half the development.

Fernández is described as a frontman, signing deals while the lawyers controlled companies, cash flows, and sales. A key example: he and Corcelles formed Promociones Villacor to buy the project's prime commercial spaces below construction cost, with contracts covering just 10% upfront and the rest unpaid.

The family learned of these stakes only after the scheme unravelled last April, when the lawyers hurriedly sold their Altavista shares. Andorran commercial registry records confirm their prior control. Andorra's High Court has rejected Fernández's bid to reclaim the apartments; Entre 4, a Montellano subsidiary, now manages the site and is selling units to recover funds. The Madrid case seeks precautionary measures to prevent asset dissipation.

A second project, Tarter II, allegedly replicated the model: over 15 million euros loaned to a Fernández-linked firm, masking opaque financing with no real guarantees and inflated apartment values to siphon off portions prematurely.

Fernández de Bobadilla called it "an internal fraud executed from within the law firm," unprecedented in scale. The proceedings continue.