A young winner of Spain’s iconic Christmas lottery was kidnapped and tortured by his own friends after revealing he had picked up a sizeable chunk of the jackpot.
Named only as Carlos, the victim immediately messaged his three trusted pals – identified as Rudolf, Javier and Alberto – after he won €25,000 in 2024’s edition of the El Gordo.
However, instead of being happy for their friend, they allegedly began plotting how to steal his winnings, before landing on a horrific kidnap and torture scheme.
According to court documents, revealed this month, the group went to the home of Leopoldo, a close friend of the victim, in Collado Villalba, Madrid.
It was there that they allegedly punched him and threatened him with a firearm in order to find Carlos, the lottery winner, and another friend, Alejandro.
Once located, the attackers took Alejandro to the living room and forced Carlos into the kitchen.
There, they allegedly covered his head with a towel and repeatedly struck him with a frying pan, demanding the passwords to his bank accounts. Under the assault, the victim handed over the details.
The plan began to unravel when the attackers forced Carlos to message his girlfriend telling her not to come to the house. Suspicious, she went there anyway.
She was also allegedly threatened at gunpoint, had her ID taken and was warned that her family would be killed if she reported what was happening. She was then released.
Alejandro and the girlfriend immediately went to the police, alerting them to the kidnapping.
The suspects failed to obtain any of the lottery money and now face potential prison sentences of between three and six years for offences including assault and torture, according to Spanish media reports.
