The Vila Casas Foundation, founded in 1988 by the Catalan patron of art and health Antoni Vila Casas (1930-2023), is engaged in an ongoing legal dispute with its former general director and manager, Joan Torras Ragué. The entity has filed a criminal complaint accusing Torras of allegedly committing three crimes: disloyal administration, embezzlement, and document forgery. Allegedly, the defendant unlawfully appropriated about 400,000 euros in just a year and a half, according to the complaint obtained by La Vanguardia.
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The complaint is signed by the Vila Casas board and Hotsun Condal S.L, of which Montserrat Pascual Samaranch is president and administrator, respectively, since January 2024. In April 2025, his daughter Montserrat Viladomiu Pascual, vice president of the foundation, took over the administration of the companies.
The complaint stems from an internal investigation initiated by the board a few months after the entrepreneur’s death
The entrepreneur and patron died in September 2023, at 92 years old. He left behind a great cultural legacy with the creation of four museums and significant real estate assets managed by Hotsun Condal – established as a company in 2003.
For decades, Torras Ragué was an executive with broad powers. He started working at the Foundation in November 2009. Appointed general director in April 2013, he was given a senior management contract in September 2014. He earned Antoni Vila Casas’s trust. The complaint is directed against him and has been accepted for processing by the Barcelona Court of First Instance number 16.
The complaint arises from an internal investigation that the foundation’s board management decided to initiate amid suspicions of alleged fraudulent use of funds bequeathed by Vila Casas through “improper or unsubstantiated expenses.” This audit covered expenses Torras made between January 2024 and June 2025, when he was dismissed.
The continuity of the legacy
Antoni Vila Casas, son of a family of textile entrepreneurs, founded Laboratorios Prodes in 1960, from which he eventually built the Prodesfarma empire, which merged with Laboratorios Almirall in 1995. He sold his stake in those laboratories at age 73 after learning he had lymphoma. Thanks to an experimental treatment, he lived until 92. He dedicated that time of his new life to philanthropy with a collection that today exceeds 5,000 works.
In 1986, he transferred much of his assets to the foundation bearing his name, initially dedicated to scientific dissemination in health and, from 2000, expanded to promoting Catalan contemporary art, preserving architectural heritage, and creating four museum spaces: the Volart exhibition halls and the Can Framis museum in Barcelona (painting); Palau Solterra in Torroella de Montgrí (photography); and Can Mario in Palafrugell (sculpture).
Four months after the patron’s death, the foundation’s board experienced a crisis with the resignation of its president, Antonio Sagnier, and three prominent members of its structure. The presidency was assumed by the entrepreneur’s widow, Montserrat Pascual, and the vice presidency by his daughter, Montserrat Viladomiu, a few months later. The new board considers the crisis overcome and reiterates its commitment to continuing the legacy and work of the great entrepreneur for 25 years.
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According to the document, the defendant acted “with the sole purpose of obtaining personal benefit and clearly to the detriment of the assets of both entities.” It mentions abuse of trust, accounting opacity, existence of personal profit motive, and management contrary to social interests, even though the defendant – it adds – was already receiving high remuneration.
The complaint includes accusations of document forgery allegedly committed by Torras even during Vila Casas’s lifetime. The results of a handwriting expert report are provided, which reportedly detected how the defendant imitated the patron’s signature on contracts where he assigned himself salary increases, raised credit card limits, or bank checks.
According to the complaint, the defendant acted “with the sole purpose of obtaining personal benefit and clearly to the detriment of the assets of both entities”
The former executive is also attributed with personal expenses charged to several credit cards owned by the two entities, many on weekends. These “lacked justification and were completely unrelated to any professional or institutional purpose,” the document states. There are records of per diems and meals at high-end restaurants, flights, hotel stays, mileage, purchases of consumer goods, and even payment of traffic fines. The total of these items approaches 45,000 euros.
The board also says it detected the purchase of 154 gift cards from a department store in two months, of which 117 “have no justified destination” and would have allegedly caused an indicative economic damage of 21,060 euros more. From the movements of several credit cards, the alleged purchase of goods worth 61,453 euros has also been verified. Likewise, an amount of another 84,125 euros in leasing fees and cancellations “managed disloyally” is included. The complaint also records the assignment of salary advances or bonuses, as well as other unjustified expenses.
This newspaper has contacted the defendant without receiving a response so far.
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