The Seville Prosecutor’s Office has agreed to file a complaint against the ultra agitator Vito Zoppellari Quiles, better known as Vito Quiles, for an alleged fraud in the collection of donations intended, among other things, for toys for the children victims of the 2024 Valencia DANA, to “defend free and independent journalism,” to fund his website, or for “scholarships for young people.” The decision of the public prosecutor comes after a complaint from the consumer association Facua.
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In the written conclusions, signed on July 23 and accessed by EL PAÍS, the prosecutor points out that Vito Quiles has been requesting donations for “allegedly social purposes” for some time, always indicating the same bank account “and not requiring the donor to identify the reason or destination of the donation.”
For the Prosecutor’s Office, the fact that all money entries are mixed in the same account and the social cause to which they are destined is not identified means that the “alleged charitable purpose” becomes blurred. “The true intended purpose is revealed, which is to obtain the availability of the donated amounts for his own use or benefit,” it notes.
The prosecutor gives a brief summary of the donation requests made by Quiles: in September 2024, he requested financial help to fund his activity and “combat media harassment”; a few months later, in December, he asked his followers (he has 1.5 million on Instagram alone) for money to “defend free journalism”; in January 2025, he requested donations to fund toys for the children victims of the Valencia DANA; in June, to cover the legal actions he intended to take against the wife of the Prime Minister; and, with no specific date in the document, he has been requesting money to fund his website, Combativos, “and to cover scholarships for young people.”
The public prosecutor focuses especially on this last item, the scholarships, to warn that at no time is it clarified what they are for or which sector of youth they are intended for. Regarding the website, the Prosecutor’s Office points out that the ownership initially shown on it was of a company not registered in the Registrars’ website. “This hides from the consumer and future donor the true identity of who will receive the money, which is the accused, in his common account,” it notes. Now, as can be seen on the same page, the owner is Quiles himself.
All this mix of causes, some more social than others, can be divided, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, into two: on one hand, the transfers intended to fund Quiles’ activity ―in his words, “combat media harassment” or “defend critical and independent journalism”― or the filing of legal actions. These, says the prosecutor, have a true (and indicated) purpose, so those who donated cannot feel deceived.
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A different matter is the collection in the same account of money for allegedly social or charitable causes. “The fact that these donations must be deposited in the same account intended for the self-financing of the owner means that those who made such donations believing they would be used for scholarships or the purchase of goods to satisfy a social and charitable interest see their good intention frustrated as their donation is diluted in the total amount of other donations for the purpose of self-financing,” the prosecutor notes. This funding has been obtained by Quiles “through deception or artifice that induces the citizen ―appealing to their goodwill― to make the payment believing they are performing a social work.”
No amounts, for now
The document clarifies that it is difficult to establish the amounts with which Quiles could have profited, and requests an investigation. Thus, the public prosecutor concludes that the complainant (Facua) has provided “unequivocal data” that the agitator carried out actions “that could be criminal” ―“we understand that this would not be to initiate an investigation that could be understood as merely prospective,” it clarifies― and agrees to file a complaint in this regard before the courts of Seville.
The fraud crime for which the Prosecutor’s Office accuses Quiles is punishable by imprisonment from six months to three years. For sentencing, the amount defrauded, the economic damage caused to the victim, the relationship between the victim and the defrauder, the means used by the latter, and “any other circumstances that serve to assess the seriousness of the offense” are taken into account.
If proceedings are opened, it would not be the first judicial case affecting the ultra agitator. Renfe also sued him for fraud for, on at least 17 occasions, traveling to a destination by buying tickets only to a closer station. Additionally, the secretary of Facua (the association filing the complaint here), Rubén Sánchez, has an open case against him for insults and slander with the aggravating factor of ideological hatred, for which he is requesting nine years in prison. In July, he filed a second complaint for the same crimes. In early July, a judge ordered his arrest for a hoax against a public employee.
