Lawyer at the centre of Spain's biggest real-estate scam arrested in Palma

He was the subject of an arrest warrant from a Barcelona court after more evidence emerged along with possible victims of fraud related to the sale of homes.

The arrest was made at a hotel at 4am on Monday. Comitre had arrived in Mallorca on Sunday in order to attend a golf tournament, the warrant having been issued on Saturday after various searches had been carried out in Catalonia and Ibiza. After making a statement in court in Palma, he was released. An existing court order prohibits him from leaving national territory.

Comitre is at the centre of 'Operation Cocoon', which dates back to 2015. He and a notary, Enrique Peña, allegedly masterminded the massive deception of more than a hundred people - most of them in Catalonia - who, without knowing it, ended up losing their homes. Financial products were offered that, in reality, concealed a strategy to take over clients' homes at no cost or at a price much lower than the market price.

He and others were first arrested in 2015. He faces a prosecutor demand of 20 years in prison.