The Audiencia Nacional on 27 July 2026 dismissed the administrative court action brought by the journalist and deputy editor-in-chief of El Confidencial, Agustín Marco, thereby upholding a €15,000 fine imposed by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV). The decision of the Sección Tercera de la Sala de lo Contencioso-Administrativo upholds the penalty imposed in 2022 for using confidential, price-sensitive information when acquiring shares in the then Obrascón Huarte Laín (now OHLA). According to consistent media reports, this is the first known ruling in Spain to uphold a market-abuse penalty against a journalist.
The case began with a CNMV resolution dated 27 April 2022, which was published on 11 January 2023 in the Boletín Oficial del Estado was published. According to the regulator’s findings, on 7 March 2019 Marco acquired a block of 15,000 OHL shares for a total of €15,000 while in possession of non-public information capable of influencing the share price. The CNMV considered the transaction a breach of the prohibition on market abuse under European law. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, responsible for capital markets supervision, later upheld the penalty in the administrative proceedings.
The court accepted the CNMV’s legal assessment. In essence, the judgment states that the authority had sufficiently established the relevant facts and their significance for the allegation of misuse of information. The judges rejected the challenge to the evidence and the other objections to the proceedings, and affirmed that the fine was lawful and proportionate. With the claim dismissed, the administrative penalty remains in full force unless and until any further appeal is decided.
Marco announced that he would appeal the judgment to the Tribunal Supremo The highest Spanish court can rule on questions of law of general importance in administrative disputes, and uphold or overturn judgments of the Audiencia Nacional. Whatever the further course of the proceedings, the case highlights a sensitive area at the intersection of financial market supervision and journalistic work: in its decisions, the CNMV regularly stresses that information with the potential to affect share prices is subject to the principle of equal treatment of investors. The penalty now upheld applies this approach in a high-profile individual case and sets a benchmark for future proceedings involving media professionals.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).