Liliane Dahlmann, the widow of Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo - known as the
red duchess
- has been sentenced this Wednesday, February 14, by the Provincial Court of Cádiz to six months in prison and to compensate the first-born son of the Duchess of Medina Sidonia (Estoril, 1936-Sanlúcar, 2008), Leoncio-Alonso González de Gregorio, with 278,678 euros, plus interest, for a crime of misappropriation.
As explained in a note by the Talin Ferreiro law firm that represents the son of the Duchess of Fernandina - also Princess of Montalbán, Marchioness of Villafranca del Bierzo, Marchioness of Los Vélez and owner of 11 other noble titles in Italy and six in Spain - , Dahlmann has been convicted of a crime of misappropriation for “having seized all of the money that, upon the death of Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, was deposited in the accounts owned by the latter in a London bank.”
According to the defense of the current Duke of Medina Sidonia, “that amount of almost 280,000 euros was awarded in the inheritance to Leoncio Alonso González de Gregorio to be used to pay inheritance debts, but it was withheld by the widow under the pretext of that it was an account owned jointly by both when, in fact, she herself had admitted that the only funds deposited in said account belonged to the Duchess of Medina Sidonia.”
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The trial was held last November, when Lilian Dahlmann's lawyer defended that the complaint had an “instrumental purpose” that sought “her removal as president of the Casa Medina Sidonia Foundation [created in 1990 to protect and disseminate the historical heritage of her family], to legally disqualify her and for Leoncio (the duchess's eldest son and complainant) to assume the position, there is no more."
Furthermore, he assured that her client “has never had the intention of appropriating anything or hiding any money.”
In this sense, the lawyer explained that “in 2008 she [Lilian Dahlmann] was co-owner of the bank accounts in the United Kingdom and France, but once the duchess died and the inheritance was distributed, she renounced the balances of said accounts. and he granted them to the executors, therefore, he no longer has disposition over the funds, so he cannot return the money to the children because it is not his.”
For his part, the prosecutor defended that the duchess's widow - they were married shortly before her death in 2008 - was aware that she had to repay the 350,000 euros under dispute to the duchess's first-born son and, despite this, she had not yet done so. had done “more than a decade later.”
The accusation made by Leoncio-Alonso González de Gregorio's lawyer even went so far as to accuse Dahlmann of emptying the accounts, "and now he pretends that the money is in a kind of limbo and that he has not touched it."
The prosecution requested a sentence of three years in prison for the widow of the Duchess of Medina Sidonia, while her heir son requested up to six years in prison.
For her part, Lilian Dahlmann defended that the money “moved to other accounts and other shares” of which she was no longer a co-owner.
“I have been living in Sanlúcar de Barrameda for more than 40 years and, I insist, I have never been left with anything,” she declared.
The prison sentence now handed down by the Third Section of the Provincial Court of Cádiz is less than what was requested, although the resolution also includes special disqualification for the right to passive suffrage during the time of the sentence, a three-month fine, and compensation. 278,678.32 euros must be added to the legal interest calculated in accordance with the laws and the procedural costs.
From 2008 until today, her heirs have been repeatedly denouncing in court the operations carried out by Liliane Dahlmann with the purpose, they claim, of disinheriting them.
In recent years, a court in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and, in 2018, the Court of Cádiz already recognized the right to the legitimate part of the inheritance of the oldest ducal house in Spain to the three children of the red duchess, and that This denied them - the three brothers, Leoncio Alonso, Gabriel and Pilar, sued who is still president of the foundation for the inheritance arranged by their mother, who donated them 743,000 euros, 1.3% of what was stipulated.
After learning of this Monday's sentence, which according to the statement from the current duke's law office they consider "satisfactory", the private accusation brought by the lawyer from A Coruña Eduardo Ferreiro Pérez has announced that he will appeal to the Supreme Court "to request a conviction more adjusted due to what it considers facts of notorious seriousness.”