José Luis Moreno will have to answer for the tax debts of two companies related to his career as a television producer. The High Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has confirmed, in two rulings, his subsidiary responsibility for amounts that jointly exceed 1.6 million euros. The information, advanced by elDiario.es and verTele, affects Alba Adriática and Kultuperalia, companies linked to some of Moreno's best-known productions.
The main amount corresponds to Alba Adriática, a company of which Moreno is the sole administrator and to which a tax debt of 1.2 million euros is attributed. This production company was behind titles such as Aquí no hay quien viva, La que se avecina, Noche de fiesta and Escenas de matrimonio. The second resolution refers to Kultuperalia, with just over 413,000 euros claimed for different VAT settlements. The company is related to the recording studios used to develop some of these productions.
The origin of the procedure dates back to the actions of the Tax Agency, which in 2021 agreed to derive to the producer the responsibility for the debts of both companies. According to the judicial resolutions, the economic relations between the companies and the repeated non-payment of tax obligations justify that Moreno must respond subsidiarily if the companies cannot face the pending amounts. The producer appealed the decisions considering that the economic problems of his companies were not due to a strategy to evade tax payments, but the TSJM has endorsed the criteria of the Treasury. The rulings can still be appealed before the Supreme Court.
The investigation of operation Titella remains open
This judicial path is independent of the criminal case investigating Moreno in the Audiencia Nacional within operation Titella. The producer was arrested in June 2021 as part of an investigation into an alleged fraud scheme that would have resorted to companies, straw men, and financial operations to obtain financing and cause economic damage to different entities. Moreno remains under investigation and the accusations must be specified in the corresponding procedure, without there being a firm criminal conviction for it.
In the investigation, the judge has placed the producer at an alleged management level of the plot and has described the use of his professional career as a way to facilitate access to financing and projects. The investigation also addresses alleged fraudulent invoicing operations and movements aimed at hindering the collection of debts. While the criminal case moves towards an eventual opening of an oral trial, the two TSJM rulings are limited to determining Moreno's subsidiary responsibility for the tax debts of Alba Adriática and Kultuperalia.