Albert Rivera is not going through his best moment. The one who was once the top leader of Ciudadanos has seen in recent weeks how the puzzle of his daily life was broken. In the first place, the rumors of a break with Malú continue to attract the attention of some media. On the other hand, he now also finds himself in legal trouble. That would not be his perspective, since this morning he has left his appointment with justice very calm.
The ex-politician was summoned this morning to appear in the Mercantile Court number 17 of Madrid, as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Martínez-Echevarría law firm, for alleged unfair competition. It is the same firm in which the Barcelona-born man began working in 2019, and from which he left in February 2022, causing great repercussions and media expectations.
The reason for the lawsuit is the creation of RV, a consultancy that Rivera launched when he left the firm, with the help of the former number 2 of Ciudadanos, José Manuel Villegas, who also left Martínez-Echevarría. After giving a statement this morning, the former leader of the orange party has categorically assured that his business and that of the firm do not coincide for the lawsuit to be effective: “We are a consultancy, not a law firm.”
That is why Rivera considers the lawsuit “obsolete” and believes that it will not prosper. “There can be no unfair competition when you do not dedicate yourself to the same thing. If you set up a butcher shop and tomorrow you set up a hardware store, you do not compete with the butcher shop. If you are a journalist and tomorrow you set up a gift shop, then you do not compete with the media” , has counted at the exit of the courts.
The ex-politician has also chosen to clarify his situation regarding the lawsuit and the remaining judicial processes. Despite the circumstances, he feels confident that everything will turn out well and the misunderstandings will be resolved: “We had a commercial lawsuit pending today, a large part of which has already been filed. There is one last part to see, but we hope it will be resolved quickly and everything will be clarified.
Originally, the original lawsuit requested 6 million euros from Rivera for the concept of unfair competition with RV, which is described as a comprehensive service company to strengthen institutional relationships in companies. According to his statements, part of this sum would have been archived after his statement today. Currently, there are 1.3 million euros pending that should be resolved in the final sentence.
