Mario Conde

He was born on 14 September 1948 in Tui, in the province of Pontevedra. He earned a Licentiate degree in Law at the University of Deusto, getting the best academic record of his promotion, full of Honours as well as he also obtained the Extraordinary Prize of Degree.

He joined the State Lawyers Corps in 1973, 1st in his promotion.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.elimparcial.es/noticia/163656/economia/el-banquero-que-personalizo-la-ambicion-de-una-epoca.html|journal=El Imparcial|title=El banquero que personalizó la ambición de una época|date=11 April 2016}} First destined in Toledo, and later at the Ministry of Finance in Madrid, he left the public administration on voluntary leave in 1976, starting then a career in the private sector.

File:Felipe González recibe al presidente de Banesto y al del Banco Central.jpg (centre) during a reception given by Prime Minister Felipe González (right) concerning the Banesto-Banco Central merger, 1988]]

Full of ambition, Conde, who has been described as the incarnation of the paradigm of yuppie in the 1980s in Spain, became a major shareholder of the Banco Espaňol de Crédito (Banesto) in October 1987, and, soon after, on 30 November, he was appointed as the Chairman of Banesto, serving from 16 December 1987 to 29 December 1993.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.congreso.es/public_oficiales/L5/CONG/DS/CO/CO_323.PDF|title=De estudio sobre la intervención del Banco Español de Crédito|journal=Diario de Sesiones del Congreso de los Diputados|date=19 October 1994|issue=323}} His highly successful business career as well as exemplary public image ended when Banesto was declared in bankruptcy.

With a patrimonial hole in Banesto tentatively estimated at 450,000,000,000 pesetas (roughly €2,704,000,000),{{Cite journal|first=Maria|last=Igartua|date=11 April 2016|title=Conde, del cielo al infierno, el hombre que encarnó el éxito empresarial en los 90|url=https://www.elconfidencial.com/empresas/2016-04-11/mario-conde-detenido-historia-caso-banesto-apropiacion-indebida_1181694/|journal=El Confidencial}} on 28 December 1993, Luis Carlos Croissier, the President of the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores the financial regulator of the national securities markets, decided to impose a trading halt on Banesto, and Luis Ángel Rojo, the Governor of the Bank of Spain, communicated the intervention of the banking entity, tasking Alfredo Sáenz Abad with chairing the board of directors of Banesto in a temporary basis. Conde, who stayed in preventive detention from December 1994 to January 1995, faced a trail of judicial problems. He paid a visit to prison (February 1998 – August 99) fulfilling part of the 4-year and a half sentence that the justice delivered vis-à-vis the "Argentia Trust" case. Regarding the "Banesto" case, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March 2000 by the Audiencia Nacional (raised to 20 years in 2002 by the Supreme Court). He in fact served 11 years before being paroled.

In 1998, he affiliated to the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS),{{Cite journal|journal=Diarioinformacion|url=https://www.diarioinformacion.com/nacional/2016/04/11/mario-conde-fracaso-hombre-hecho/1748604.html|title=Mario Conde, el fracaso del hombre hecho a sí mismo|date=11 April 2016}} and, postulated as prime ministerial candidate by the party, ran as candidate to the Congress of Deputies, 1st in the UCD list for Madrid vis-à-vis the 2000 general election.{{Smallcaps|Juntas Electorales Provinciales}}: {{Cite journal|journal=Boletín Oficial del Estado|issn=0212-033X|issue=39|page=7019|date=15 February 2000|title=Candidaturas proclamadas para las elecciones al Congreso de los Diputados y al Senado, convocadas por Real Decreto 64/2000, de 17 de enero|url=http://www.juntaelectoralcentral.es/cs/jec/documentos/GENERALES_2000_Candidaturas.pdf}} CDS failed to obtain parliamentary representation.

A collaborator in Intereconomía, the media group further to the right in the mainstream Spanish scene, chiefly as panelist in El gato al agua, he became the conductor of a short-lived late-night show called Una hora con Mario ("One hour with Mario") in June 2011.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.elboletin.com/noticia/42317/mario-conde-aumenta-su-poder-en-intereconomia.html|journal=El Boletín|title=Mario Conde aumenta su poder en Intereconomía|date=11 October 2011}}

He was promoter of the political party Sociedad Civil y Democracia (SCD), registered in 2011. He was elected president of SCD in its constituent assembly, celebrated on 6 October 2012.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.lne.es/espana/2012/10/06/conde-elegido-lider-scd-ataca-autonomico/1308315.html|journal=La Nueva España|title=Conde, elegido líder de SCD, ataca al Estado autonómico|date=6 October 2012}} He contested the 21 October 2012 Galician regional election, running 1st in the SCD list in Pontevedra.{{Smallcaps|Consellería de Presidencia, Administraciones Públicas y Justicia}}: {{Cite journal|journal=Diario Oficial de Galicia|url=http://www.juntaelectoralcentral.es/cs/jec/documentos/GALICIA_2012_Candidaturas.pdf|page=37202

|date=25 September 2012|title=Resolución de 24 de septiembre de 2012 por la que se hacen públicas las candidaturas proclamadas por las juntas electorales provinciales de A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense y Pontevedra para las elecciones al Parlamento de Galicia de 2012}} The party's political platform was focused on attacking the "autonomic state", which SCD described as "inefficient".{{Cite journal|url=https://www.farodevigo.es/galicia/2014/02/06/sociedad-civil-democracia-borde-inminente/962059.html|journal=Faro de Vigo|title=Sociedad Civil y Democracia, al borde de su "inminente" disolución|date=6 February 2014}} Regarding the November 2012 Catalan regional election, SCD did not contest at the ballots, but Conde endorsed and called to vote for Citizens.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.elboletin.com/nacional/64836/mario-conde-ciutadans-cataluna-elecciones.html|journal=El Boletín|title=Ciutadans agradece el apoyo de Mario Conde en las elecciones catalanas: "Bienvenido sea"|date=16 November 2012}} Conde left the post of party leader on 21 May 2013,{{Cite journal|url=https://www.elperiodico.com/es/economia/20160411/mario-conde-biografia-5044306|journal=El Periódico|title=Del pelotazo a la cárcel|date=11 April 2016|first=Olga|last=Grau|author-link=Olga Grau}} and months later, in September 2013, María Jamardo assumed as new President. By February 2014, when Jamardo left the SCD's leadership, the party was reportedly at the verge of dissolution, amid heavy competition from other political parties, with—according to the SCD's director of communication—plenty of members ready to jump to the newly created Vox.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2051171/0/partido/mario-conde/vox/|journal=20minutos.es|date=6 February 2014|title=El partido de Mario Conde está al borde de la disolución por la aparición de partidos como Vox}}

In April 2016 he was rearrested, along with several family members and put into remand due to an apparently fraudulent transfer of capital. A cosmetics company he owns was implicated in the fraud, which combined a failure to pay some workers with the large quantities of money found offshore.

During most of his life, Conde and some important figures of Spanish society{{who|date=August 2019}} have defended him, saying that his arrest, charges, imprisonment and overall downfall were staged by several powerful figures, including former prime ministers Felipe Gonzalez and José María Aznar.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}

After his exploits with Banesto he founded the magazine MC and has also published several books in Spanish about his experience of power, his life as a prisoner and his prison experience, Taoism and various religious beliefs as well as his most demanded work, "The System", a long book that details his personal experiences with the supposedly unofficial powers that rule the country from the shadows, those being bankers, politicians, media moguls, and so on. According to Xavier Casals, Conde set the foundations of a "protestatary" brand of populism directed against the economic and political elites.{{cite news |newspaper=Ara |authorlink=Xavier Casals |first=Xavier |last=Casals |url=https://www.ara.cat/opinio/Conde-Bernad-moralitzadors-amorals_0_1562843728.html |date=20 April 2016 |title=Conde i Bernad: moralitzadors amorals? |access-date=24 September 2018 |publisher=Generalitat de Catalunya}}

• {{flagicon|Spain}} Complutense University of Madrid: Doctor Honoris Causa (1993-2016)[https://elpais.com/economia/2016/04/26/actualidad/1461666904_151764.html] EL PAÍS: La Complutense retira el título de honoris causa a Mario Conde

• Asalto al poder by Jesús Cacho. Where explains how the criminal conspiracy between Abelló and Conde corrupted one of the most important banks in Spain (which subsequently rescued by Santander Bank).
• Duelo of titanes. Jesús Cacho. On the failed fusion of Banesto with the Central Bank.
• M.C. | Jesús Cacho. On the intervention of Banesto.
• Conde, el ángel caído (the fallen angel) by Luis Herrero.

{{commons category|Mario Conde}}

• Economy of Spain

{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-bus}}

{{s-bef|before=Pablo Garnica Mansi}}

{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of Banesto|years=1987–1993}}

{{s-aft|after=Alfredo Sáenz Abad}}

{{s-ppo}}

{{s-bef|before=Office created}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of Civil Society and Democracy|years=2012–2013}}

{{s-aft|after=María Jamardo}}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conde, Mario}}

Category:University of Deusto alumni

Category:1948 births

Category:People from O Baixo Miño

Category:Living people

Category:Populism in Spain

Category:Spanish prisoners and detainees

Category:Members of the State Lawyers Corps

Category:20th-century Spanish businesspeople

Category:Spanish bankers