José María Ruiz Mateos

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Jose Maria Ruiz Mateos is a Spanish businessman.

He began by exporting wine to England. He founded the conglomerate Rumasa and had a lot of influence in Spanish society. In 1983, the government of Spain (the Socialist Party was in office at the time and led by Felipe González) expropriated the company in 1983. The government alleged that Rumasa had missed millions of dollars in mandatory tax payments to the national treasury. The government also indicated that Rumasa was in virtual bankruptcy and that it was still affloat thanks solely to imaginative accounting by the auditing department of the company. Ruiz Mateos disagreed with this assessment. He sued the government for compensation, but has yet to win in court.

He was imprisoned on charges of currency smuggling, fraud and tax embezzlement.[1] After several years in jail, he went back into public life, owning the football team Rayo Vallecano, trying to enter politics with his own political party.

Ruíz Mateos was acquitted in 1999 by the Spanish Supreme Court [2].

He was a well-known member of Opus Dei, though he was later expelled from the group.

Ruíz mateos is the father of 13 sons and daughters [3].