Porto Prosecutors Charge 69, Including Lawyer Paulo Topa, Over Alleged Fake Creditor Claims in Insolvency Cases: How Creditors Can Challenge a Claim

Prosecutors in Porto have charged 69 defendants, among them the lawyer Paulo Topa, over an alleged scheme to use insolvency and company-recovery cases to take money and property that belonged to creditors. According to the indictment by the Regional Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DIAP Regional) in Porto, seen by the Lusa news agency and reported on 20 October, the charges are criminal association, corruption, fraud and document forgery.

Being charged is not a conviction. Every defendant is presumed innocent, and none of the accusations has been tested in court.

Who is accused

Besides Topa, Lusa reports, the defendants include eight other lawyers, three court-appointed insolvency administrators, several business owners, an architect, a teacher, a notary, a solicitor, a physiotherapist and two pharmacy technicians. Twenty-four companies are also charged, mainly in property and the motor trade, together with the Sociedade Hípica Quinta do Outeiral, a riding centre in Vila Nova de Gaia where police seized more than 20 horses in searches on 29 September.

The prosecutors allege that Topa and an insolvency administrator, António Dias Seabra, set up and led the group and gave instructions to the others. Lusa reports that Topa and the administrators are being held in pre-trial detention.

How the scheme allegedly worked

According to the indictment, the defendants formed an organised group from at least mid-2023, and over several years used court cases themselves as the means of fraud. Companies controlled by the group allegedly posed as creditors so as to mislead the courts and divert assets from businesses and private individuals, in sums the prosecutors put at several million euros.

The Polícia Judiciária described the method when it arrested Topa on 21 December 2025. In its statement, the police said people and firms trusted by the suspects lodged fictitious claims backed by forged documents, such as contracts over property or business licences, and those claims were recognised without proper proof. The fake claims allowed assets to be taken at once and also secured approval of recovery plans, which froze action by the real creditors while the debtor's assets were dispersed. The arrest followed an April 2025 operation in which three insolvency administrators and a lawyer were detained in the Porto area.

What creditors can do in an insolvency

The case turns on the stage where the court decides who is owed what. Under the Insolvency and Company Recovery Code (CIRE), which is in Portuguese only:

• The judgment declaring a company or person insolvent sets a deadline of up to 30 days for creditors to claim (article 36).
• Each claim goes to the insolvency administrator with supporting documents, stating the amount, interest and any guarantee (article 128).
• Within 15 days of the deadline, the administrator files lists of the creditors recognised and those refused (article 129).
• For the next 10 days, any interested party can ask the judge to strike out a claim that should not be on the list, or to correct its amount or ranking (article 130). This is the main safeguard against inflated or invented debts.

Any of the 69 defendants can now ask an investigating judge to review the indictment before the case goes to trial, within 20 days of being notified of it, under articles 286 and 287 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Insolvency cases already weigh on the courts: they made up most of the more than 27,700 lower-court cases waiting over four years at the end of 2024. Even so, a long insolvency can still pay out, as in the Qimonda case, or end in liquidation, as at the Cascais fertility clinic.