Spanish journalist who defrauded colleagues over cancer treatment could have been awarded more than €400,000 – Observer

Six months ago, the journalist Guillermo Valadés, with whom he was doing the Tiempo de Juego program on Cadena Cope (considered one of the main radio networks in Spain), said that he had a brain tumor with metastases in his back. And to survive, he must undergo an experimental treatment at the Clinica de Navarra, which costs 10,000 euros a week. After all, it was a lie, allegedly a fraud of more than 400 thousand euros.

Paco González, Manolo Lama, Pepe Domingo Castaño and Juancar González did not hesitate to pay for the treatment when they learned about the disease of Valadez, also known as “Willy”. oh Country Explains that the money came from bonuses for the group’s objectives. Within weeks, the good news came: The treatment was good. But still Expensive drugs were requiredThis raised the weekly bill to 16 thousand euros.

Maximum happiness!!!

Paco Gonzalez @Lamakob @JCXuancar @rubenmartinweb @RuizAntonito @beamartinh @JGATOO1 pic.twitter.com/iSGXQh4rn2

— Guillermo Valades (@gvalades) April 29, 2022

That’s this Monday That’s L Confidential He said that journalists from the sports team of the Cadena Cope discovered that there was no one named Guillermo Valadez on the list of patients at the Clinica de Navarra. The director of the Tiempo de Juego project, Paco González, tried to get in touch with “Willy”, who did not answer the phone for several days. When he finally answered a call Threats were exchanged between the two, who have been friends for years. In 2010, Guillermo Valadez was one of nearly 50 journalists who left Catena Ser.

Although unable to speak about the patients or confirm names, one of Clínica de Navarra’s oncologists (who did not want to be identified) told El Confidencial that it is “very rare and exceptional” for a brain tumor to spread to the back. In addition, he explained that although the experimental treatments were expensive, none reached the values ​​that Guillermo Valadez had asked his colleagues for.

The payment was received by the journalist through a company called Valadés Communicaciones SL, of which he was the manager and sole shareholder. oh the world Explaining that the company was incorporated in 2010, it was transferred to the Catena file. Records consulted by the Spanish newspaper show that two years ago, he received 103 thousand euros from Tiempo de Juego through this company.

Aged 55 and living at home with his parents – unmarried and without children – the journalist allegedly received more than 400,000 euros from his colleagues for the alleged treatment. Sources in the Cadena file who spoke to El Mundo believe that most of this money “should have been spent.” And, they added Paco Gonzalez and Manolo Lama have offered to return the amountBut Guillermo Valades denied it.

In what appeared to be the first public reaction to the alleged fraud, Paco González, in a presentation on one of the most recent Tiempo de Juego programs, said he wished he could “clarify something”, but that it was not possible because it was a matter of a “private, private and very intimate sphere”. and, According to El ConfidentialHe promised that he and his colleagues would come back to help (without mentioning Valadez by name) “because any help from the heart is good”.