Iñaki Urdangarin is now a free man. After the recent signing of his divorce, this Tuesday the sentence of five years and ten months that he began to serve on June 18, 2018 when he entered the Brieva prison (Ávila) expires. For the man who was son-in-law of King Juan Carlos and brother-in-law of King Felipe due to his marriage, now extinct, with the Infanta Cristina de Borbón, his involvement in the so-called Nóos case, in addition to the sentence imposed by the courts, has meant that he went from being recognized as an elite athlete, and an active member of the royal family, to experience social ostracism after being the protagonist of the so-called Nóos case and ending up convicted of several corruption crimes. Currently, 56 years old, he lives with Ainhoa ??Armentia, lives in Vitoria and has no known job.
The successful F.C Barcelona handball player went from being recognized in the sporting field to global recognition after his engagement and subsequent wedding to Infanta Cristina. The couple, plus the successive children they brought into the world: Juan, Pablo, Miguel and finally, Irene, became the stars of the royal family. His residence in Barcelona also fostered a new relationship between the Crown and Catalonia: the king of Spain had Catalan grandchildren and his daughter and son-in-law became involved in civil society.
Urgangarin’s luck began to change after his retirement from active sport that occurred in 2000 after the Sydney Olympics. His search for a professional path led him to meet Diego Torres, then his professor at the Esade business school and, later, his partner at the Nóos Institute.
The matter continued until 2006, when, following an investigation into cases of corruption in the Balearic Islands, the contracts, irregular to say the least, between the Balearic Government and, later, between the Generalitat Valenciana and the aforementioned institute, came to light.
La Zarzuela tried to get Urdangarin to leave private businesses, although they dressed as a foundation, but the damage was already done. For a few years, with the transfer of the then dukes of Palma to Washington, it seemed that things would not get any worse, but the tenacity of the investigating judge of Palma, José Castro, ended up taking Urdangarin to court, a scenario that was followed Infanta Cristina.
The pleas from King Juan Carlos and the people around him for Urdangarin to disassociate her activities from the Royal House, nor the advice to Infanta Cristina to separate herself from her husband’s businesses, even with the marriage breakup included, were of no use. . Cristina de Borbón, with unwavering loyalty to the father of her children, was removed from the institutional representation of the Crown; She passed through the hot seat and after a brief return from Washington to Geneva, she ended up moving her family home and workplace to Geneva.
In June 2015, by decision of her brother, now Felipe VI, Infanta Cristina also lost the title of Duchess of Palma that her father, Juan Carlos I, had granted her for her wedding to Urdangarin, who served as Duke Consort and who, In one of his graces, he came to define himself as a “hard-core duke.” The rupture between the Infanta and the Royal House was absolute since the proclamation of Felipe VI.
In the midst of the judicial process, the still dukes of Palma got rid of the misnamed “Pedralbes palace”, a villa located in the upper part of Barcelona, ??which was their ruin. They rented an apartment in Geneva, from where Urdangarin left to take his bicycle rides around the city and to travel to Palma where the sessions of the trial that began in January 2016 were taking place.
On February 17, 2017, the Palma hearing sentenced Infanta Cristina’s husband to six years and three months in prison for embezzlement, prevarication, fraud against the Administration, two tax crimes and influence peddling, although the Supreme Court The sentence was reduced by five months by exempting him from falsehood in a public document. The ruling in the Nóos case acquitted Infanta Cristina, although she was ordered to pay 136,950 euros as civil liability for profit.
A year and a half later, on June 18, 2018, with the final sentence in place, Urdangarin entered the Brieva women’s prison (Ávila), where, including a pandemic period in which she did not have visitors, she remained, without setting foot on the street. until January 2021. After twenty months isolated as the only prisoner in the male module of Brieva, Urdangarin obtained permission to leave prison a few days a week to volunteer at the NGO El Hogar de Don Orione, dedicated to caring for people with disabilities, in the Madrid municipality of Pozuelo de Alarcón.
In mid-2021, Urgangarin was transferred to the Social Integration Center (CIS) in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) to undergo the reintegration program for those convicted of economic crimes and his last stint in prison was in Zaballa (Álava). In March 2022, the former Duke of Palma was paroled and spent the night in Vitoria at his mother’s house, once he had served two thirds of his sentence and found a job in a law firm in Vitoria, where he met his current couple, Ainhoa ??Armentia.
The life of King Felipe’s still brother-in-law had taken a new twist when in January 2022, the magazine “Lecturas” published some photographs that revealed his extramarital relationship with Ainhoa ??Armentia. Days later, Cristina and Iñaki published a statement in which announced a kind of de facto separation, although the couple had not lived together since Urdangarin entered prison in June 2018. They only saw each other a couple of times in Brieva prison and at sporadic family gatherings in Vitoria.
The couple’s divorce has never been officially announced, but it is assumed that it was signed at the end of 2023 before a notary in Barcelona. Urdangarin and Ainhoa ??live together in an apartment located in the same urbanization where Claire Liebaert, Iñaki’s mother, lives, but the former duke has not been able to find paid work either inside or outside the world of sports.
Infanta Cristina, in turn, who in recent years has been bringing her family closer again, especially her father, whom she usually visits in Abu Dhabi, has also done so in recent months with regard to her appearances. public in Spain, especially with his mother, Queen Sofia. Her public rehabilitation is underway although she is still the King’s family, she is no longer part of the royal family.
Once the sentence has been completed, Urdangarin will maintain his criminal record until five years have passed if he does not offend again.
