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The sudden fall of the man who for 20 years managed the fortune of the richest woman in Spain

2021-08-08T14:05:22.299Z


José Leyte, Rosalía Mera's right-hand man since 2000, has been fired by the daughter of the Inditex co-founder, who accuses him of misappropriation and documentary falsification


José Leyte, in an image published on the website of his firm, Mondo Consulting, SL.

It was the man to whom Rosalía Mera, the richest woman in Spain, entrusted the management of her immense fortune. And when she died suddenly, in 2013, his heiress, Sandra Ortega Mera, leaned on him to land in that business world that was strange to her. But that close relationship with the richest women in Spain has ended abruptly. José Leyte Verdejo (A Coruña, 1967) was fired at last November by the daughter of the woman who, together with her ex-husband Amancio Ortega, founded the Inditex empire. Ortega Mera, who has a net worth of 6,200 million euros according to

Forbes

, then wielded "loss of confidence."

Now he accuses Leyte in court of misappropriation, document falsification and unfair administration, an unusual noise in a billionaire determined to go as unnoticed as possible.

More information

  • The turbulent real estate year of the Zara heiress

  • Ortega's daughter inherits 5,053% of Inditex valued at 3,500 million

Leyte, graduated in Law and graduated in Economics and Business Administration from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas, was signed by Rosalía Mera in 2000, after spending two decades in the financial galaxy of Arthur Andersen, Barclays and Deutsche Bank. When the Galician businesswoman noticed him, he held the position of director of Private Banking at Caixa Galicia, the main financial institution in the city where they both resided and were born. He left the savings bank to take the reins of Rosp Corunna Participaciones Empresariales, SL, the large

family

holding company

that in 2019 quantified its net worth at 6,300 million euros. In addition to two sicavs and business and real estate investments in Germany, Austria, Portugal, Spain or the United States, it owns 5% of Inditex.

For 13 years, Leyte became Rosalía Mera's trusted person for business, while the billionaire's daughter, Sandra Ortega, focused on philanthropy. Until his mother died, Ortega turned to the Paideia Foundation, the entity created by the co-founder of Inditex in 1986 to promote equal opportunities by financing cultural, training or social economy projects. The financial manager of the family was not left out of these non-profit activities either and served as secretary on the foundation's board of trustees.

It was in 2009, while Rosalía Mera was still alive, when Leyte crossed paths with Kike Sarasola, founder of the Room Mate hotel chain, with whom he struck up an alliance that has now led to his disastrous fall. Under her advice, the co-founder of Inditex got to acquire 30% of this company. The Madrid businessman reveals it in his book

More ideas and less masters

(2013), in which he tells how he created a business project that has finally turned out to be ruinous. In the chapter entitled

Where do I get the money?

Sarasola reports that she sent a dossier to Rosp Corunna to propose to enter into its capital increase and that it was Leyte, "Rosalía's right hand", who "analyzed" the documentation and "presented the investment opportunity" to Mera.

That offer of a business alliance arrived at the A Coruña offices just as Leyte was traveling on a plane with his wife reading a report in a magazine about the chain's hotels, highlights Sarasola.

She “suggested to Pepe [for José Leyte] that on their next trip to Madrid they stay at one of them,” she adds.

Through these "providential coincidences" he ended up meeting Mera, whom he defines as "the perfect financial spouse."

"For my part it was almost a crush", declares the founder of Room Mate about his meeting with the businesswoman.

Sandra Ortega Mera, with her husband, after attending her mother's funeral in Oleiros (A Coruña) in 2013. Cabalar / EFE

The sudden death of the Zara co-founder in 2013 did not appear to change Leyte's influence or undermine the trust placed in him by the family. The A Coruña fortune manager maintained his weight in the company when Ortega succeeded his mother and even opened new positions as a representative on the boards of directors of firms such as Zeltia and PharmaMar. The relationship between Leyte and Mera's daughter, however, was twisted as the investment in Room Mate leaked and, just as the pandemic broke out, it was blown up.

Last November, Ortega fired Leyte from the company and he took his dismissal to court, unhappy with the settlement. Now the executive has received two complaints: one for misappropriation and the other for falsification of public documents and unfair administration. According to the information published by

eldiario.es

Ortega accuses Leyte, among other things, of falsifying his signature to benefit Sarasola, putting the fortune of the Galician businesswoman as a guarantee for the payment of the loans that the indebted chain of hotels in Madrid requested from various banks. The complaint indicates as an alleged consideration for this support an advantageous purchase option on a Sarasola company that Leyte and his wife signed with the Madrilenian through a company called Olbia Investments, SL (currently TG Interiors) in 2014, just one year later. that Mera passed away and her daughter took charge of her fortune.

Leyte has declined to give his version of events to this newspaper. The serious accusations of Amancio Ortega's eldest daughter have clouded the new project that he launched last January after being fired from Rosp Corunna. It's called Mondo Consulting, SL, a firm with headquarters in London and Lisbon that offers itself to precisely manage family fortunes. His website is a showcase of the 20 years of this A Coruña executive together with Rosalía Mera and her daughter. Leyte presents himself as "responsible" for the "expansion and consolidation" of Rosp Corunna. And among its "achievements" stands out a sale of Inditex shares that reported capital gains of more than 250 million euros. About Room Mate, not a word. Nor about Sandra Ortega.

Source: elparis

All business articles on 2021-08-08

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