Former inspector, VIP tax advisor, and family duty-bound advisor: Ana Duato and Imanol Arias's advisor sentenced to 80 years.

"It's a shame that a former tax inspector is the advisor who set all this up, but the good news is that it was two other tax inspectors, and in this case active ones, who stopped him." The reflection of a veteran State Tax Inspector consulted by ABC reflects the bittersweet reaction the Tax Agency received in response to the devastating court ruling against Fernando Peña in the Nummaria case, the case opened following the tax fraud discovered against actors Ana Duato and Imanol Arias, the famous stars of the series 'Cuéntame'.

The verdict could not be more devastating. "Fernando Peña has developed a deliberate tax fraud strategy by concealing the true tax reality from the Public Treasury. This strategy consists of using entities through which the firm's income is channeled, ensuring that this information is not disclosed to the Tax Agency." In other words, he is convicted of having built a business network focused on fraud and which was offered to various personalities to reduce his tax bill.

But who is this Fernando Peña, beyond the fact that he was the mastermind behind the "Nummaria case" and the man who brought Imanol Arias and Ana Duato to trial?

Fernando Peña became a tax inspector when the agency was still called the State Financial and Tax Inspectorate, and there he took the first steps of what seemed like a promising professional career. In the late 1980s, he decided to enter the private sector working for several investment management firms before moving into private tax consulting, also specializing in celebrities. A job that brought him both media attention and legal headaches, the latter of which resulted in the harshest sentence ever handed down to a tax advisor.

The court considers it proven that Fernando Peña was the main and exclusive person responsible for the fraudulent scheme set up by the Nummaria law firm, which on the one hand explains the professional's 80-year sentence, but on the other hand has exempted his son, Pedro Ángel Peña Bello, from all responsibility , who had been identified as a collaborator of Fernando Peña in the configuration of that structure.

The trial for the "Nummaria case" is grabbing headlines in both the tabloid and non-tabloid press, primarily due to the alleged involvement of such powerful figures as Imanol Arias and Ana Duato, the well-known stars of the long-running series "Cuéntame Cómo Pasado," which was a hit on Spanish screens for two decades.

This is an alleged plot involving up to 30 people within an investigation that began in 2016, when agents from the Economic and Tax Crime Unit (UDEF) raided the Nummaria group's headquarters, located on the central Juan Bravo street in Madrid. The intention was to dismantle the firm led by lawyer Fernando Peña, and along the way, two well-known names, Imanol Arias and Ana Duato, would eventually emerge.

In reality, Fernando Peña is not unknown to the general public, although few remember him now. His image rose to popularity in the 1990s, when he became a regular contributor on television programs, where he presented himself as a virtual personal income tax guru. Shortly after, he became the mastermind behind Nummaria, the so-called "celebrity law firm," where he offered his unique expertise to promise lower tax payments, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

Fernando Peña has always been an enthusiastic student of the art of creating companies and more companies to circulate money, the creation of opaque corporations in places as diverse as the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, and Canada. Now his clients are trying to convince the judge that they were providing income to the firm and that they were already managing it, either with or without his knowledge. That will be decided by the judge.

"He's someone you trust completely, Fernando Peña, and I feel very betrayed, of course I do," Ana Duato admitted to the media before the start of a trial in which Fernando Peña is the main defendant in a case. They are seeking a roughly 298-year prison sentence.

The truth is that Fernando Peña was a real snake charmer, according to his clients, a true seducer who convinced his clients with his words and a magical concept that everyone fell for: "Saving taxes."

The results of his charms were not long in coming, and an investigation by the Tax Agency seven years ago revealed that he was hiding a fortune of 80 million euros through a complex network of shell companies and front men with branches in Portugal, Switzerland, Uruguay, Panama, Luxembourg, and the British Virgin Islands.

Chalet, cars and a box at the Bernabéu

By then, his assets included an exclusive villa in La Moraleja, a 349-hectare estate in Cáceres, several apartments in Lisbon and Montevideo, luxury vehicles that he changed every other week, a box at the Santiago Bernabéu, and season tickets to the Teatro Real, the San Isidro Fair, and the Madrid Tennis Open. There's no doubt he knew where to be.

Now, much to his chagrin, he sits in the front row of the trial, accompanied by other Nummaria employees and clients. He awaits his moment to testify while the prosecution piles up dozens of questions already answered and countless more yet to be answered.