Paco Sanz: Man Who Cheated Thousands of People by Pretending to Have 2,000 Tumors Accepts Two Years in Jail | Society

Paco Sanz, known as the man with 2,000 tumors, has accepted a two-year sentence after admitting that he cheated thousands of people by simulating terminal illness. The defendant, who reached an agreement with the Public Prosecution Service at the start of the trial that began this Monday, managed to raise more than € 264,780 from people, including several celebrities, who believed they were helping to pay for experimental treatment in the United States. According to the police investigation, he used this money for purchases, travel and even a cruise.

At the beginning of the trial, in the Provincial Court of Madrid, the defense of Paco Sanz ―Francisco José Sanz González de Martos― and the Public Prosecution Service negotiated and agreed on the sentence, but not on civil liability for each of the those affected, so the trial continues. For example, the Public Prosecution Service has reduced his request for imprisonment from six years in prison to two plus a fine of 2,600 euros (nine months, at a rate of eight euros per day), while the sentence for Lucía Carmona, Sanz’s girlfriend at the time, is being one year and nine months instead of three years. Sanz’s mother, María del Carmen González, was also charged with winnings. The father was on trial, but died in May. In the process, only the possible civil liability of the accused is resolved. The charges have responded to the prosecutor’s request.

Sanz was diagnosed in 2009 with Cowden syndrome, a rare genetic disease responsible for causing multiple non-cancerous tumors in various parts of the body, without immediate danger to life. The prosecutor says the suspect, who pretended that he had only a few months to live, raised 264,780 euros in seven years by asking for financial help through social networks and the media to try to get experimental treatment in the United States. The defendant, who received a pension for absolute disability of EUR 745.99, forged a plan to obtain illicit capital gains between the years 2010 and February 2017. With messages such as “I am doing everything I can to save my life and the only experimental option is in the United States. Thanks to people like you, I can continue the treatment, maybe get cured, or even find a remedy that can help others, ”he was able to move thousands of people, including comedian José Mota or TV presenter Jorge Javier Vázquez, who contributed to the spreading his case.

Sanz arrived at court around 9:45 AM with his lawyer, without making any statement to the press, staring blankly and visibly disoriented. He has told the court that in order to cure his illness, he traveled to the United States 10 to 12 times for a clinical trial without medical costs. These trips cost between 6,000 and 8,000 euros per trip and because of his low pension he had to ask for help. “I received between 8,000 and 10,000 euros from family and friends, but I don’t know how much money I got from third parties,” he acknowledged. He also received 500 euros for a book that was published about his illness.

The defendant only answered his lawyer’s questions, although he answered his ex-partner’s lawyer to make it clear that she “knew nothing”. For her part, Lucía Carmona has stated that she met Sanz in 2014 and although they had not seen each other in person at the time, she helped him raise the money so that he could heal. When they started a relationship in 2017, Paco opened a bank account in Valencia that Carmona owned, but according to her account, she only used it four times to transfer € 200 for each operation, but because it was her money. “I haven’t touched a single cent of the donation money,” he insisted, confessing that he had no memory of that account his partner was managing. Carmona has indicated that because she lived in Seville and he lived in Valencia, they could only see each other four times.

Upon leaving the court, neither Sanz nor Carmona have made any statements, but her attorney, Alberto Martín, has insisted that he is “innocent” and they have only accepted the agreement “to exclude risk”, for “responsibility”. The lawyer explained that there are parties who can request up to 27 years because it is a crime of continuous fraud, and that his client will not go to jail with the agreed sentence. Martín has defended that Carmona, who was 17 years old when she met Paco Sanz, is a “victim” who “always acted in good faith” by believing what he told her because she was absolutely in love.

To further publicize his alleged condition, Sanz contacted several actors and television presenters, such as the comedian Santi Rodríguez, who organized a charity gala in Valencia on May 30, 2013, an event that raised 3,000 euros in tickets. That same year, the writer Miguel Hervás Abad published the book Paco Sanz, a life of dreams, a life of struggle, with the prologue and epilogue written by the youtuber Auronplay and former professional athlete Pedro García Aguado, respectively. Sales of the book were 2,184 euros, with 364 copies sold.

Under the pretext of funding the alleged treatment, he created a web page in 2010 exaggerating the symptoms of his disease, stating that he was either suffering from “genetic cancer” or that he “had only a few months to live.” On that website he posted messages like “I’m ashamed to ask for money.” It even offered the possibility to donate him money by sending a solidarity SMS for 1.45 euros to the number 25600 with the Paco word, or also the possibility to donate money through his PayPal account.

During the investigation, the police confiscated 17 videos showing the suspect ridiculing his donors. The crooks paid him mainly by bank transfer. Sanz was arrested in La Pobla de Vallbona (Valencia) on charges of fraud, money laundering and embezzlement. In some scenes that have been removed from the recording, Sanz appears to be joking with the “oxygen in the piggy bank,” referring to the donations he has received, or playing with a hospital probe while his mother dances in the background.

The trial will continue next Tuesday, with testimony witnessing former water polo player Pedro García Aguado, known for the Hermano Mayor television show; the humorist Santi Rodríguez; the writer Alejandro Ruiz Hurtado, author of the book That’s how Paco Sanz fell, among others the actor Ignacio Guerreros and the photographer Roberto Pedro Roca. The singers Ramón Melendi and Charo Reina, the TV presenters Risto Mejide and Dani Mateo, the youtuber Auronplay and the Cádiz footballer Álvaro Negredo, without prejudice to the compensation and other consequences of the penalty that may correspond to them.

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