Overview
- Manuel Blanco Vela was found guilty in 2025 by Spain’s National Court of assaulting three American students and is appealing the conviction while free under court restrictions.
- Judges ordered passport confiscation, a travel ban, and regular check‑ins after granting his provisional release pending finalization of the sentence.
- Blanco Vela ran Discover Excursions in Seville, a low‑cost tour company that drew many U.S. study‑abroad students to trips in Spain, Morocco, and Portugal.
- The court sentenced him to eight and a half years in prison, barred him from tour work for seven and a half years, and ordered compensation including €40,000 to Gabrielle Vega.
- Dozens of women connected online after Vega went public in December 2017, and the cross‑border probe that followed faced delays as victims abroad gave testimony by videoconference, a story now drawing new attention through a Netflix docuseries.