The magistrate of the Central Court of Instruction number 4 of the National Court of Spain, José Luis Calama, in charge of charging the former president of the Spanish government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has established himself as one of the pioneer judges in the investigation of economic crimes linked to cryptocurrencies.
Through the investigation of the largest frauds with digital assets registered in the country, the judicial official has designed the first procedural protocols aimed at localization, key control and the subsequent seizure of funds in decentralized networks.
Calama’s career in the digital assets environment became relevant with the development of the Arbistar case, considered one of the first large-scale macro scams with crypto assets in Spanish territory. In fact, the judge himself described this scheme as “the largest pyramid scheme” with cryptocurrencies, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
Between 2019 and 2020, said platform defrauded an estimated amount of 200 million euros, affecting more than 32,000 investors through the misleading offer of an automated investment algorithm that turned out to be non-existent.
The Arbistar judicial process advanced significantly under the judge’s management. The leaders of the pyramid scheme, Santiago Fuentes and Diego Felipe, received sentences of 8 and 6 years in prison for the crimes of fraud and document falsification.
Likewise, Judge Calama extended the investigations to the money laundering mechanisms, ruling on the opening of an oral trial in a separate hearing for money laundering involving a dozen people. and a network of corporations used as facades without real economic activity.
At the same time, Calama led the investigation of the Madeira Invest case, another scam with cryptocurrencies that raised about 185 million euros belonging to more than 3,000 users between the beginning of 2023 and the end of 2024, as this medium also documented.
Those in charge of the platform promised fixed returns close to 20% annually to divert the victims’ capital to private structures controlled by the network’s main investigators, a case that currently remains in the evidence collection phase.
Judge’s visual on cryptocurrencies
Through these investigations, Judge Calama has pointed out that digital currencies are used recurrently by criminal organizations to mobilize illicit resources due to the methodological challenges involved in mixing services (mixers), cross transfers and, in particular, self-custody of private keys by users.
The magistrate’s resolutions have determined the need to create institutional wallets managed by security forces to guard the confiscated units.
This accumulated experience in the prosecution of technological crimes underlies the recent measures issued in the institutional political sphere.
On May 18, 2026, Judge Calama ordered the search and seizure of digital assets such as bitcoin (BTC) and litecoin (LTC) within the framework of the investigation of the former president of the Spanish government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
The criminal case evaluates alleged charges of influence peddling and criminal organization linked to the financial rescue of the company Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas by the holding company SEPI state in 2021.
By applying the criteria tested in previous corporate frauds, the court seeks to determine whether the virtual wallets of those involved harbor irregular commissions derived from economic intermediation.