A court in the United States warns of seizing payments or receipts from the Spanish national football team due to the country's debts with renewable energy companies.
FIFA or the Hilton hotel chain are among the entities that have received a judicial request last Tuesday to inform about any money flow related to the Spanish Football Federation regarding the World Cup, considering this organization as a debtor member of the Spanish State. At least eight requests have been sent at the request of the law firm King&Spalding, which aims to collect the unpaid awards with this reputational damage pressure for Spain.
In the case of the establishment where La Roja will stay in the group stage of the World Cup, Embassy Suites by Hilton Chattanooga Downtown, the judge requires all documentation related to the federation regarding payments made for Luis de la Fuente's team stay. The creditors' goal is to leave the Federation and the Spanish Government in the US without a credit card during the World Cup, both payments and receipts may be subject to judicial intervention.
In the request to FIFA, "all agreements under which you act as a provider of tournament organization services for Spain" are requested. Also, "all documents related to payments to or from Spain or on behalf of Spain, including invoices, receipts, payment records, transaction records, accounting, accounting books, statements, remittance notices, ACH/bank transfer confirmations, transfer confirmations, settlement records, checks, deposit slips, certified checks, cashier's checks, treasurer's checks, and money orders related to any payment to or from Spain." And even, "all documents and communications between you and Spain related to your role as a provider of tournament organization services for Spain."
The document requests all documentation related to "Spain, as well as its ministries, organizations, representatives, and all other persons acting or intending to act on behalf of Spain. To avoid any doubt, this includes, among others, the Spanish national football team, the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the Higher Sports Council, the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports of Spain, and each of the individuals identified in Annex A," according to the Court.
This annex includes the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and his ministers if they travel to the US to watch the national team's matches. "These actions, processed in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure of the United States, seek to identify contractual relationships, payment flows, bank accounts, and other assets located under US jurisdiction that may be subject to execution," sources from the Blaskett fund explained to this newspaper. Neither the coach nor the players are at risk of seizure, but the Federation is, according to the same sources.
Blaskett is one of the funds trying to recover in the US more than 500 million for seven lawsuits won against Spain for the subsidy cuts to renewable energies. The cutback was decided by the Government of Mariano Rajoy to try to solve the tariff deficit generated by the premiums for renewables, but international courts have ruled in many cases that it was done illegally and that the affected parties are entitled to compensation.
In the US, judges have sided with the funds, but the current Government is resisting payment and has the support of the European Commission.
The clash is not preventing seizure orders such as those for the Instituto Cervantes accounts in the UK or payments in Belgium from Eurocontrol to Enaire, the state-owned company that owns Aena, which has 482 million withheld. All of these are debts accumulated by not meeting the international awards that the State has been losing.