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July 2023
REAL ‘SPANISH STYLE’ See page 24
NEW GOLD RUSH with sales up 88%
ments, such as accreditation or professional of at least three years. and among them experiencehaving this visa, it was By Alex Trelinski are key community MERICANS are coming “Prior to Valencia and Andalucia many Americans,” he added. work in Spain beto Spain for longer both its digital nomad difficult to rates were so high to per locations. as digital nomads and people are Spain launched making it cause the tax ing up an average of €2,837 “As with any big city, visa earlier this year, move and and there wasn’t a clear-cut imretire. than grew square metre. attracted to its job opportunities for foreigners to migration regime, other The number living in Spain while And their purchasing power grew and amenities,” said Alex In- easierin the country. allowed the same period, acservices firm work by 13% from 2019 to 2021, ‘interna- the ′golden visa’ that jumped the most in General Council of grim from financial The visa is tailored forapplicants you to move to Spain and work,” home sales to US buyers cording to the Chase Buchanan. tional teleworkers’ and by 88% from 2019 to 2022. Notaries report. is a strong word of mouth must comply with a set of require- added Ingrim. cash “There the on splash focus to expat tend Americans also for Valencia, with a large buyers, American buyers more than any other cough- urban areas like Madrid, while apart from the Danes,
A
Surge in buyers from US
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Tragic car crash POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a man died in a shocking car crash in Gibraltar early Saturday morning that left another man fighting for life in a Spanish hospital. Unconfirmed reports said the second serious victim has died after being treated in a private hospital. A third man was recovering from his injuries in Gibraltar after images showed the car hit the barrier and postbox outside Natwest Bank on Line Wall Road at about 3.45am. Royal Gibraltar Police are especially looking for a woman who approached the scene of the accident at 3.45am and then made a call, possibly to the Police Control Room.
Information
CCTV caught images of her and police hope she could offer more information on how the crash happened. “The Royal Gibraltar Police Control Room received a report for police and ambulance assistance following reports that a car had collided with street furniture outside NatWest Bank,” a police statement read. “The family of the deceased male, 18, have been notified of his death and a police liaison officer is currently supporting the family.” Early reports suggest that the driver hit a postbox and the barrier to the parking of Natwest Bank on Line Wall Road. The fire service, ambulance and Gibraltar Defence Police all deployed to the accident, and the police declared it a major incident. Police officers closed the road and put up traffic diversions between Cathedral Square Park and the traffic lights at the British War Memorial Steps following the fatal accident. Anyone with information should call the police hotline 200 72500.
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NO PLACE TO HIDE
Liquidators in Globix Ponzi scheme target Russian fraudster’s expat wife in Alicante LIQUIDATORS attempting to pin down €40 million missing in a giant crypto fraud are zeroing in on the expat wife of one of the chief suspects. Gibraltar courts are trying to locate Russian Alla Babenko, 35, who is married to Globix executive Pavel Sidorov. She is now the subject of a disclosure order and will face public examination over her role in moving the unaccounted millions. Babenko, who claims she was kidnapped by a gang attempting to seize her crypto accounts in June 2022, is living in Alicante, the Olive Press can reveal. Judge Liam Yeats granted the order during a Gibraltar hearing in which owner Damian Carreras and technical officer Sidorov finally made an appearance by video link. A previous court hearing already established that Carreras, 39, had funnelled tens of millions in investor cash not to crypto wallets controlled by Sidorov, but in fact to those in the name of his wife, Babenko. According to prosecutor Daniel Feetham KC, the shady moves have made Babenko a key player in efforts to trace the missing millions. She has now been given seven days to respond to the court order or be held in contempt of court. And to underline that the suspects have no place to hide, Feetham told the court that they are in close contact with lawyers in Madrid in order to open proceedings in Spain should they try to evade the law in Gibraltar. Gibraltarian Carreras is hiding out in Barcelona ‘afraid for his life’ after receiving death
By Walter Finch
threats. Russian nationals Sidorov and Babenko are still believed to be based in Alicante city, putting them all within reach of Spanish justice. It was a kidnap attempt on them last June by angry investors frozen out of their funds that first alerted authorities that something was amiss with Globix. In the shocking kidnap, the couple were snatched outside their El Campello villa, before they somehow managed to contact police to be rescued. It was during the attack that Sidirov was able to send an estimated €40m to Ukraine in a crypto-wallet.
Russia
Liquidators also remain in touch with a highly reputable legal firm in Moscow, should any of them try to flee to Russia. Carreras, who studied at Tambov University in Russia, demonstrated his Russian fluency to the Gibraltar court by translating for Sidorov after the latter claimed he did not speak English. The liquidators elected to excuse Sidorov from public examination, officially due to the lack of a translator. But Feetham also reasoned that, due to Sidorov’s total lack of cooperation, they needed access to the crypto wallets in Babenko’s name before they could effectively cross-ex-
WANTED: Alla Babenko in the aftermath of her kidnapping
amine him. Through what meagre disclosures the liquidators have been able to ascertain, they established that €25 million in crypto currencies was transferred from a wallet controlled by Carreras to the Globix cash wallet, controlled by Babenko. Carreras and Sidorov stand accused of running a Ponzi scheme that lured in €25 million in investor capital through their Globix crypto trading platform, trading under the British Virgin Islands-registered Miracle World Ventures. Carreras managed to ensnare some of the most powerful and influen-
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SPENDING SPREE: Damian Carreras
tial individuals in Gibraltar, as the Olive Press revealed previously, including former Chief Minister Sir Peter Caruana, leader of the opposition Keith Azzopardi and wife of the current Chief Minister, Justine Picardo. With supposed returns of an ‘unbelievable’ 30% per month, Globix claimed 50% of the profits each investor made.
Luxury
The solo director then took these millions and went on a spending spree at various luxury goods shops in Marbella’s Puerto Banus. Liquidators are trying to determine if these purchases, made in 2021 and 2022, were with Carreras’ own earnings or if he funded his luxury lifestyle with investor funds.