Renfe Sues Vito Quiles for Train Ticket Fraud. Renfe has accused Vito Quiles of repeatedly violating travel regulations. The company has documented 17 incidents in which he failed to pay for part of his journey. The matter is now in court, while Quiles claims the accusations are false.
Renfe has officially filed a lawsuit accusing Vito Zoppellari Quiles, known as Vito Quiles, of fraud. According to the company, Quiles repeatedly purchased tickets for only part of a route but actually traveled the entire distance without paying for the remaining segment. Renfe has documented at least 17 such incidents, which prompted the company to contact law enforcement authorities.
One of the incidents occurred on August 11: Quiles bought an AVE train ticket from Alicante to Albacete, but took a higher-class seat than his ticket allowed and continued his journey to Madrid without paying for the extra distance. Only after an inspector intervened was he forced to pay the fare difference. Additionally, on the same day, Quiles accessed the Executive lounge, to which his ticket did not entitle him.
Renfe also notes regular violations of VIP area access rules and emphasizes that Quiles' actions have damaged the company's reputation. As part of the investigation, the court summoned Quiles twice to testify: the first hearing was postponed because he could not be located, and the second because he failed to appear despite an official notice. According to Renfe, Quiles has not provided any explanation for his absence.
Quiles himself is actively commenting on the situation on social media, claiming he has never fare-dodged and accusing the company of persecuting private individuals. He links the investigation to insufficient attention to railway safety, recalling the tragedies in Gelida and Adamuz. In response to the accusations, Quiles stated he intends to defend his interests in court and dismissed all allegations, calling them fabricated.
The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, also reacted to the scandal, limiting himself to a brief comment on social media. Shortly after, he published a portion of a court order confirming that the case has been accepted for review and that Quiles has been summoned for questioning as a suspect on March 24, 2026.
Notably, the charges against Quiles emerged immediately after Congress temporarily suspended his journalist accreditation, as well as activist Bertrand Ndongo’s accreditation. In addition, Quiles is already facing a lawsuit from Facua head Rubén Sánchez, which includes accusations of defamation with the aggravating circumstance of hatred and a demand for €60,000 in compensation, along with a temporary ban from working as a journalist.
In Spain, cases of train ticket fraud are rare, but transport companies routinely increase passenger checks. Similar scandals involving violations of access rules for services and VIP areas have already become a subject of public discussion, as was the case after the incident involving police infiltration at a teachers’ meeting in Catalonia. In both cases, it is about striking a balance between citizens' rights and the need for oversight by government authorities.
