El Pequeño Nicolás avoids prison and seeks to reclaim his real name
Francisco Nicolás Gómez Iglesias, sentenced to more than 12 years at first instance, will not serve time in prison following a reduction by the Supreme Court. At 32 years old, he wants to shed the alias that made him famous.
Convicted four times, Francisco Nicolás Gómez Iglesias avoids serving his prison sentence
Francisco Nicolás Gómez Iglesias, known as El Pequeño Nicolás, will not go to prison despite accumulating convictions totalling 12 years and 5 months at first instance. According to El País, the Provincial Court has agreed to suspend the final sentence in exchange for a payment of 1,800 euros and a commitment not to reoffend. The young man, who was arrested at 19 years old and is now 32, also hopes to rid himself of the alias that catapulted him to media fame and reclaim his real name.
Four legal proceedings in less than a decade
Gómez Iglesias has appeared in the dock on four separate occasions since 2021. The first trial stemmed from the falsification of an ID so that a friend could sit the university entrance examination in his name in 2012, for which he was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison. The second proceeding revolved around the organisation of an alleged delegation from the Royal Household to meet with the mayor of Ribadeo (Lugo): the Madrid Provincial Court imposed three years in prison on him, but the Supreme Court acquitted him.
In the third case, Gómez Iglesias posed as a member of the CNI and the Government to businessman Javier Martínez de la Hidalga in order to close deals relating to an estate in Toledo. The initial sentence was three and a half years, although the high court removed the charge of usurpation of public functions and reduced it to two years. The fourth and most decisive proceeding was the one that investigated an illegal scheme to obtain confidential information from police databases.
The Supreme Court reduces the key sentence and opens the door to suspension
This last case was the one that most concerned the defendant, given that the initial sentence of four years and three months exceeded the two-year threshold established by law to request suspension of the prison sentence. The Supreme Court, however, reduced it to two years and six months after finding undue delays: from the start of the proceedings in 2014 until the final judgment, so much time had elapsed that the magistrates ruled that the sentence should be mitigated.
With none of the individual sentences exceeding two years and with no record that Gómez Iglesias had "committed crimes subsequently" or could be considered a "habitual offender", the Provincial Court agreed to apply the suspension. The payment of 1,800 euros formally closes the large-scale proceedings.
Sources close to the convicted man claim that he received the news "delighted" and point out that the successive trials had "deflated" over the years: he was never convicted of fraud, a crime he was frequently accused of in public debate.
The lawyer defends the ordinary application of the law
Juan Carlos Navarro, the solicitor who accompanied him in most of the proceedings, emphasises that the suspension does not constitute preferential treatment. "The law allows suspension with these characteristics for everyone equally", Navarro states. "He faced uncertainty, insecurity and anguish at the possibility of going to prison. Like anyone else. Anyone who tells you they are going to face trial and that they have it won is arrogant", the solicitor adds.
Gómez Iglesias's circle also rejects the notion that the involvement of lawyer Manuel Marchena—son of the magistrate of the Supreme Court's Criminal Division—in one of the four proceedings gave him any advantage. Marchena senior, the same sources recall, abstained from that appeal.
Between media attention and distance from politics
Last May, whilst Gómez Iglesias was awaiting the ruling that would determine whether he should go to prison, he attended a live show on the programme Línea de la Cal at the Capitol Theatre on Madrid's Gran Vía. Upon being recognised in the audience, hundreds of spectators chanted in unison: "President, president". When questioned by one of the presenters about a possible electoral candidacy, he replied: "No, I'm steering clear of politics". When asked which party he would stand for if he changed his mind, he answered with a laugh: "Of course, none of the left-wing ones".
In October 2024 he launched an initiative called "Mr. President"—with daily emails sent upon subscription payment—in which he promised to reveal "things that no one has told until now". The presentation video was published on the exact day marking ten years since his arrest. Most of the content he released had already been published in journalistic investigations or featured in the documentary (P)ícaro: El Pequeño Nicolás, broadcast by Netflix months earlier. The initiative gradually faded away without translating into a move into politics.
Proximity to Alvise and presence in the young media ecosystem
In recent times, Gómez Iglesias has moved in the circles of MEP Luis Pérez, known as Alvise, alongside whom he has been seen holidaying in Marbella and with whom he travelled to Valencia in the days following the 2024 DANA. At the same time, he maintains periodic appearances on online programmes and podcasts aimed at young audiences.
His case continues to divide public opinion. Those who followed it through the media—his network of contacts with figures from Mariano Rajoy's PP, his manoeuvres to pose as an emissary of the Royal Household or as a member of the CNI—receive with disbelief the news that he will not go to prison. Those who know him as Fran, however, contend that what was truly striking was that the actions of a teenager came to be investigated with the intensity of a top-order criminal case.
Source: El País