Fight against tax fraud

• With an estimated fraud of more than 300 million euros in 2024 and a structure made up of 38 companies, it is one of the two largest hydrocarbon schemes dismantled to date

• Five people considered responsible for the criminal organization have been arrested, one of them in prison, for alleged crimes against the Public Treasury, criminal organization and money laundering.

• While investigating the structure of the organization, the Tax Agency was removing from the market the operators who were successively committing fraud, thus halting the scheme's attempts to perpetuate the fraud.

• More than 160 officials from the areas of Inspection, IT auditing and Customs Surveillance have participated in the investigation and in the 18 searches carried out in twelve locations in seven Spanish provinces

• Authorities have seized 42 properties, 82 vehicles, two boats, hundreds of bank accounts, crypto assets, a large amount of cash, two works of art, and 64 watches, handbags, and luxury items, as well as 180 kilos of gold, silver, and other high-value metals.

December 26, 2025. The Spanish Tax Agency has dismantled a VAT fraud network operating throughout Spain, comprised of 38 companies, and accused of defrauding the country of more than €300 million in 2024. This is one of the two largest VAT schemes uncovered to date in Spain in the hydrocarbon sector. Eighteen raids carried out in twelve locations across seven provinces resulted in the seizure of numerous properties, vehicles, boats, hundreds of bank accounts, cryptocurrencies, a significant amount of cash, works of art, luxury goods, and valuable metals.

As part of this operation, called 'Pamplinas Stars', which involved more than 160 officials from the Tax Agency, five people considered responsible for the criminal organization have been arrested, including one of its leaders, who is already in prison, for alleged crimes against the Public Treasury, criminal organization and money laundering.

Succession of fraudulent operators and cancellations in the Redef

The investigation into this 'macro-plot' of fraud began in mid-2024, when the Tax Agency started analyzing the possible fraud of a wholesale operator who began selling large quantities of hydrocarbons at the end of 2023.

At that time, the regulatory change that came into force in January 2025 had not yet occurred, under which companies registered in the Register of Hydrocarbon Extractors, the Redef, already have to submit monthly declarations and be in the Immediate Supply of Information system, the SII. The operator submitted quarterly declarations and was only required to identify its clients and suppliers to the Tax Agency on an annual basis.

This first operator allegedly based its fraudulent scheme on the quarterly declaration of VAT due amounts much lower than the sales it made, and VAT paid amounts much higher than the actual ones. The Agency's investigation revealed that the operator had been operating through shell companies that would formally invoice the final recipients for the product extracted by the former.

Once the Tax Agency removed this first fraudulent operator from the Redef in mid-2024, the fraudulent activity continued with a second operator, which began selling large quantities of hydrocarbons in October 2024, but in just one month the Agency also removed it from the register. During that period, between October and November, this second operator allegedly defrauded 123 million euros, according to investigators.

Finally, in mid-December 2024, the fraudulent activity of a third operator began, which, until then, had been selling hydrocarbons within a fiscal deposit (before the payment of the special tax and VAT was due) to other operators. Five days after the start of its fraudulent activity, the Agency also removed this operator from the Redef.

The three operators have been barred from operating as hydrocarbon wholesalers and, therefore, have already been expelled from the market. Investigations continue, led by the Court of Instruction number 4 of the National Court and under the coordination of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

A structure with 38 companies, front men and legal advisors

Finally, the Tax Agency uncovered a vast and complex structure made up of up to 38 companies and designed for a dual purpose: to facilitate the defrauding of VAT charged but not paid into the public coffers, and to transfer the funds obtained through fraud abroad in an attempt to prevent their traceability.

Part of the funds obtained by the organization, which also had a wide network of front men and the collaboration of legal advisors for its criminal activity, was used to acquire companies registered in the Redef, in order to continue the fraud.

This mechanism allowed for a rapid increase in sales at low prices thanks to VAT fraud and an expansion of operations throughout the national territory, so that the impact of the fraud on the public treasury and on competition in the sector was concentrated in a short period of effective operation of the organization.

Seized goods worth more than 21 million euros

Once all the necessary evidence had been obtained, the first phase of the operation was carried out on November 24, with 18 raids and searches of properties in Madrid, Majadahonda and Humanes (Madrid); Siero (Asturias); Saragossa; Castejón del Puente (Huesca), Montoro and Lucena (Córdoba), Marbella, Estepona and Mijas (Málaga) and Vigo (Pontevedra).

After the searches were completed, 82 mid-range, high-end and very high-end vehicles with an estimated market value of three million euros were seized, as well as two recreational boats valued at more than 63,000 euros and a total of 48 properties with a market value of 10.8 million euros.

At the same time, hundreds of bank accounts were blocked for a total amount of more than six million euros and crypto assets held by exchanges. Also seized were 42 high-end watches, as well as 12 handbags and other luxury items with an estimated value of more than 440,000 euros.

In turn, a significant amount of cash was seized from the organization, including more than 314,000 euros and banknotes from up to eight countries in Africa, America and Asia, as well as two works of art and 178 kilos of ingots of gold, silver, titanium, tungsten, molybdenum and tantalum with an estimated value of more than 350,000 euros for all these high-value metals.

The operation, which is now continuing in a second phase with the analysis of the abundant documentation obtained, has involved the National Fraud Investigation Office, the Regional Inspection Area in Madrid, Customs Surveillance in Extremadura and the Central Computer Audit Unit, with the support of the regional areas of the SVA and the UAI of Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Galicia and Madrid.

The significance of the fraud committed by the two most recently dismantled organizations, in both cases amounting to around 300 million euros, highlights the importance of the regulatory and operational changes implemented in recent years, including the most recently incorporated one that will immediately require operators to pay or guarantee the VAT accrued as a result of the release of the hydrocarbon from the tax warehouse prior to that release.