The advertising and public relations company Whathefav, owned by Laura and Alba Rodríguez Espinosa, the daughters of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, received more than one million euros in the payment scheme linked to the former Prime Minister following the bailout of the airline Plus Ultra, according to the judicial order in the case.
This company is one of the three registered this Tuesday by the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police by order of the judge of the National Court José Luis Calama, along with the companies Inteligencia Prospectiva S.L. and Softgestor, which participated in the payments and acted instrumentally, according to the judicial order.
In the investigation, the judge refers to a “financial structure” designed to channel funds from various companies to Zapatero and his daughters’ company, including Plus Ultra, Análisis Relevante, Aldesa, Inteligencia Prospectiva, and Aldesa. Whathefav, the order says, has acted as a “finalist” company that receives funds from clients and other instrumental companies, “generating generic invoicing and redistributing payments” to the former president’s circle.
Zapatero’s daughters’ company received 560,000 euros from Inteligencia Prospectiva, 239,000 euros from Análisis Relevante, 171,000 euros from Gate Center, and about 12,000 euros from the consulting agency linked to the latter company, Thinking Heads.
Whathefav is identified in the order as a core part of the scheme and as a recipient of payments at a level of importance similar to Zapatero’s. There are “solid indications,” the judge says, that the company “does not carry out ordinary commercial activity.” Its role does not go much beyond formatting the reports that Zapatero prepared for the company Análisis Relevante.
Laura Rodríguez Espinosa created the company in August 2018, joined in 2023 by her sister Alba. It is domiciled on San Germán street, in the Bernabéu area, and its corporate purpose is the provision of advertising and public relations services. The former Prime Minister stated in his appearance before the Senate in March that his daughters’ company “is modest” and “has never contracted with the public administration.” However, the judge asserts that it intervenes in the final phase of the chain without providing its own technical value” and acts as a “distribution center for financial flows.”
Both Alba and Laura were present this morning at the UDEF raid, as part of the investigation into the former Prime Minister for alleged crimes of criminal organization, influence peddling, and document falsification as part of the Plus Ultra case.
In the latest registered accounts, for the 2024 fiscal year, Whathefav reports having six employees and revenues of 471,810 euros, from which it obtained a profit of 125,639 euros, a figure much higher than the approximately 32,000 euros before the start of the payments that the judge attributes to Zapatero’s circle.
A major business player in the case is Análisis Relevante, a company owned by Julio Martínez Martínez, a friend of Zapatero who is attributed a “relevant role” in the investigated events. Martínez is linked to the use of the 53 million euros from the SEPI bailout of the airline Plus Ultra for purposes other than rescuing this company, considered strategic during the pandemic. Análisis Relevante is not among the companies registered this Tuesday, although payments from it link it to Zapatero’s daughters’ company.
Whathefav, as Zapatero also indicated in the Upper House, began performing tasks for Análisis Relevante when the former president became Martínez’s consultant. The work often consisted of formatting the reports prepared by the former president and, as the judge notes in the order, distributing them among clients.
Análisis Relevante, Martínez’s company, paid 490,780 euros between 2020 and 2025 to Zapatero for consulting work and another 239,755 euros to Whathefav. It also ended up sending 203,280 euros to the company of Zapatero’s daughters.
The consulting and strategic analysis group Thinking Heads, through various companies, paid 681,318 euros to Zapatero, in addition to another 352,980 euros through another linked company, Gate Center. Gate Center reportedly sent 171,727 euros to Whathefav and Thinking Heads another 12,297 euros, the order states. Whathefav received another 561,440 euros from Inteligencia Prospectiva. Grupo Aldesa transferred 490,780 euros to Zapatero and 239,755 euros to Whathefav.
The judge also records large amounts received in the bank accounts of Zapatero’s daughters between 2021 and 2025: 247,191 in Laura’s case and 199,904 in Alba’s.
Julio Martínez’s company is domiciled on Diego de León street and, in the last year it filed accounts with the commercial registry, in 2023, it earned 125,875 euros and recorded losses of 39,551 euros. Its purpose is the preparation of reports on geopolitics, but for the opposition it is an instrumental company whose sole objective is to collect commissions through its only client, Plus Ultra, from which payments were made to Zapatero. Martínez himself signed a contract to receive the equivalent of 1% of the Plus Ultra bailout amount.
Apart from Zapatero’s office, this Tuesday two companies from which payments were made to Zapatero’s circle were also raided. The first is Inteligencia Prospectiva SL, with registered office on Paseo de La Habana in Madrid and a single employee. Its latest accounts also show little activity and results consisting of revenues of 34,936 euros and losses of 316,867 euros.
Created in 2020 and dedicated to business management consulting, it has two joint administrators, brothers Guillermo Alfredo and Domingo Arnaldo Amaro Chacón, who are Venezuelan businessmen with businesses in their country of origin. In the scheme, it is an entry point for simulated foreign funds with capital increases, which are then distributed to other companies, including Whathefav, through fictitious contracts.
The other company targeted by the raids is Softgestor, domiciled on Marde Kara street in Madrid, which has not filed accounts since 2019 and is dedicated to combined administrative services. It has as sole administrator the lawyer Carlos Alberto Parra Delgado, attorney for Venezuelan businessmen in Spain. The judge considers it functions as a vehicle for channeling funds, “justifying payments through interchangeable international advisory contracts lacking real content.”
The order also mentions five other companies. Caletón Consultores, controlled by Santiago Fernández Lena, which according to the judge is an instrumental company used to channel funds from Plus Ultra to Julio Martínez’s circle. Iot Domotic Europe receives funds and formalizes operations lacking economic cause, blurring the origin of funds from Plus Ultra. Voli Analítica serves to receive and redistribute funds. Idella Consulenza Strategica, represented by Julio Martínez, was used to hide payments agreed with Plus Ultra to bank accounts abroad. There is a final one, called Afitta, which provides documentary support.
Read more Registered companies in the Zapatero case: agencies and consultancies under suspicion
