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Spanish Authorities Seized Over $334,000 from Amnesia Ibiza Owner

The total amount of money seized from the investigation now stands at $2.5 million.
Photo via Flickr user Amnesia Ibiza.

After revoking Amnesia Ibiza's late-night license for tomorrow night's closing party, Spanish authorities yesterday morning (October 6) seized yet another pile of cash from the superclub's owner Martin Ferrer, according to local publication Diario de Ibiza.

Officers of the Guardia Civil entered two banks in Ibiza Town, Banco Sabadelli and BMN, and reportedly seized over $334,000 (€300,000) in cash from two security deposit boxes belonging to Ferrer. Tax agents also searched a third box located on a boat owned by Ferrer, but found nothing.

According to Diario, authorities have known about the deposit boxes since July, when Amnesia was first raided by Spanish police as part of a money laundering investigation. A magistrate yesterday ordered that the money be seized to be officially recorded.

During that initial two-day search, cash amounting to over $2.2 million (€2 million) was uncovered along with a cash counting machine, and Ferrer—along with his son (Amnesia's artistic director), the general manager, and an accountant—were arrested for "alleged crimes against the Treasury" and are currently out on bail. This latest development now brings the total amount of money seized from the investigation of the club to just under $2.5 million (€2.2 million).

The incident occurred amid a nationwide investigation into fraud within the nightlife industry titled Operation Chopin, which has seen clubs including Space, Privilege, Pacha, and Ushuaïa raided by police over the course of the last three months. Searches of the lattermost clubs uncovered "several million Euros" in cash.