The practices of the “influencer” Amadeo Llados, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on social networks, will not be investigated by the National Court. Judge José Luis Calama dismissed the complaint filed by nine people who believe they were defrauded by Llados, arguing that the specialized court does not have jurisdiction to investigate the alleged facts, including scams that do not exceed 1,800 euros. In his order, Calama reminds the nine plaintiffs that the National Court investigates scams that exceed 7 million in damages, as established by the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court.
Amadeo Llados, who has 1.5 million followers on Instagram alone, has become popular thanks to a speech in which he associates lifestyle with profit. In this lifestyle, physical exercise occupies a central place and, within it, the “burpees” (“fucking burpees”, as Llados alludes), one of the most demanding “fitness” exercises, which combines the flexion of the arms and legs. There is a version of the “burpee” that adds a jump at the end of the exercise, but Llados comments in his videos that doing “burpees” with a jump “is for mileuristas”.
The nine alleged fraudsters went to the National Court accusing the sports instructor of aggravated fraud, hatred and criminal organization for selling courses on the Internet in which he promises that those who hire them will become millionaires. The complaint states that Amadeo Lladós, known on social networks as Llados or Lladosfitness, is the owner of an Internet portal called “SALATU1MILLON”, in which he sells courses in which he allegedly deceives his clients-subscribers.
The complaint states that Llados shows on his networks a life of luxury that he attributes to a particular culture of effort that is summed up in getting up early, training twice a day and faith in God. In a kind of religious capitalism, Llados defends that he practices his faith by accumulating money and enriching others. He recently explained in an interview that he would leave his wife if she gained weight because that would mean that she had renounced the “values” that unite them.
In addition, it leads its customers-subscribers to believe that they will obtain a legitimate title, which, according to the plaintiffs, is false because it has no power to do so. Llados measures its success by the luxury cars in the garage, in particular the “lambo”, alluding to the Lamborghini brand.
The injured parties also denounce that the payments demanded by Llados are increasing more and more and warn that it manipulates its customers to pay it increasingly large sums, up to 10,000 euros, “by what can be called veiled coercion”. Finally, they assure that once you are part of their customer network, they themselves offer you a way to obtain commissions or discounts on new subscriptions by promoting their products on social networks, all with the aim of reaching more people.
In his order, Judge José Luis Calama first emphasizes that the facts that the complaint describes as crimes of hatred and illicit association are “clearly” outside the objective jurisdiction of the National Court, as established by the Organic Law of the Judicial Power. Power.
Regarding the crime of fraud, he points out that the facts could constitute fraud, although for the crime to fall within the jurisdiction of the National Court, one of these conditions must be met: that it involves significant damage to the national economy or that it involves a generality of people injured in the territory of more than one province.
In the first case, the order explains, the amount of the alleged fraud does not seem to be determined in a “minimum” way, since the amount paid by none of the nine accused is expressed, with the exception of some screenshots in which payments of 50,600 or 1,8000 euros are shown. These are figures very far removed, the judge estimates, from the seven million euros of damage established by the Supreme Court to attribute jurisdiction to the National Court.
Regarding the second of the premises, that the fraud affects a generality of people, the instructor indicates that the complaint is filed by nine victims, a number “which seems insufficient to justify on its own the jurisdiction” of a court of the National Tribunal.
