The judge José Luis Calama has requested the full content of an email account associated with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and several corporate mailboxes of Whathefav, the company managed by the daughters of the former President of the Government, as part of the investigation into the alleged influence peddling scheme linked to the Plus Ultra rescue.
The order, dated May 18, 2026, agrees to require the technological providers of these emails to deliver the complete content of the mailboxes to the UDEF from March 20, 2020, to the present. The measure affects the account presidentezapatero@presidentezapatero.com and several addresses from the @whathefav.com domain, including those corresponding to Laura Rodríguez and Alba Rodríguez.
The resolution is not a sentence nor does it imply any conviction. It is a decision adopted in the investigation phase to gather electronic documentation that the judge considers relevant to advance the investigation.
Zapatero's account, "central node" of the organization according to the order
The most relevant point of the order is the judicial consideration of the account presidentezapatero@presidentezapatero.com. According to the resolution, María Gertrudis Alcázar Jiménez, Zapatero's secretary, acted as the main user of this mailbox, which the judge defines as the "central node of internal communication of the organization."
The magistrate maintains that from that account, instructions would have been transmitted, actions coordinated, and documentation related to the investigated economic activity prepared. Specifically, the order points to emails in which invoice items, amounts, and accounting documentation linked to companies in the network would have been coordinated.
The judge justifies the measure by the existence of rational indications of criminality and the relevance of that account in the structure being investigated. Therefore, he requests not only the received and sent messages but also drafts, deleted items, folders, metadata, recipients, dates, subjects, and attachments.
Zapatero's daughters' emails
The resolution also agrees to request the full content of several email accounts of Whathefav, a company managed by the daughters of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Laura Rodríguez Espinosa and Alba Rodríguez Espinosa.
The order describes Whathefav as a company that, according to the investigation, would not have developed ordinary business activity, but would have functioned as an instrumental vehicle to generate billing, redistribute funds, and provide formal cover for certain economic operations.
The judge places Whathefav within a broader structure connected with companies such as Análisis Relevante, Inteligencia Prospectiva, Gate Center, and other commercial entities linked to the investigated environment. According to the ruling, Whathefav would have acted as a "financial flow redistribution center."
The connection with Plus Ultra
The investigation is part of the proceedings opened regarding the public aid of 53 million euros granted to Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas during the pandemic through the Fund for the Support of the Solvency of Strategic Companies, managed by SEPI.
The order maintains, always in indicative terms, that a network oriented towards the exercise of influence before public and private bodies for the benefit of third parties existed. According to the ruling, that network would have operated under the guise of advice, consultancy, or provision of services, but with the objective of channeling payments and obtaining favorable administrative decisions.
In that context, the judge attributes a central position to Zapatero in the investigated structure. The ruling speaks of the former president as the "vertex" of the alleged scheme, although the case remains in the investigation phase and the agreed-upon proceedings must confirm or rule out the indications gathered so far.
What the judge exactly requests
The judicial request asks for the complete content of the electronic mailboxes from March 2020 to the present. The requested information includes the inbox, outbox, drafts, deleted messages, any existing folders, metadata, senders, recipients, dates, subjects, and attachments.
In addition to the account associated with Zapatero and the emails from Whathefav, the order also requests documentation and communications from other companies and entities related to the investigation, including SEPI, Gate Center, Grupo Aldesa, Summer Wind, Assidere Consultores, Pebagar Consultoría, TDE Consultores, and Deloitte Legal.