Mango tycoon's heir held financial grudge, gave contradictory versions of father's death, judge says
By Joan Faus, Emma Pinedo and Charlie Devereux
Investigation into Isak Andic's Death and Family Dynamics
BARCELONA/MADRID, May 20 (Reuters) - The heir to the Mango retail fortune held a financial grudge against his father and gave police and emergency services contradictory statements about the day he fell to his death as they hiked together, a judge's writ seen by Reuters shows.
A Barcelona court on Tuesday named Jonathan Andic, 45, as a suspect in an investigation into the death of the fashion tycoon Isak Andic, who died when he fell more than 100 metres (328 feet) from a cliff near the Catalan capital.
In the writ, Judge Raquel Nieto Galvan said there was "sufficient evidence to suggest that the death of (Isak Andic) may not have been accidental, and that (Jonathan Andic) played an active and premeditated role in his father's death".
Jonathan Andic's lawyer did not respond to a message and telephone call seeking comment. An Andic family spokesperson declined to comment and referred to a statement on Tuesday that the investigation was an opportunity to prove his innocence.
Financial Motives and Family Tensions
Judge Cites Obsession with Money
Judges in Spain typically investigate cases to decide whether there are sufficient grounds to go to trial. The writ is part of Nieto Galvan's pre-trial investigation and Jonathan Andic has not been charged.
The root of their bad relationship was Jonathan Andic's "obsession with money to the extent that he asked his father (Isak Andic) for an inheritance while he was still alive", Nieto Galvan wrote.
In WhatsApp messages, Jonathan Andic expressed "feelings of hatred, resentment and thoughts of death, and blaming his father for his situation".
Jonathan Andic wanted to either find a way to receive the inheritance while his father was still alive "or for the figure of the father to cease to exist, either in his thoughts or in reality", the writ said.
Professional and Personal Crisis
Events Leading to the Crisis
Witnesses told the judge that part of the resentment stemmed from events in 2015 when Isak Andic handed more responsibility at Mango to his son before suddenly withdrawing it. This precipitated for Jonathan Andic "a crisis on a professional, personal and family level, particularly with his father," according to the writ.
Jonathan Andic confirmed to the judge that his father had retracted some of the power he had been given at Mango but denied that this had created any bad blood between them at a professional or personal level.
Inheritance and Attempted Reconciliation
Jonathan Andic discovered in mid-2024 that Isak planned to change his will to create a foundation to help people in need, which produced "a marked change" in him, according to the writ. He sought to reconcile with his father, who accepted his son's proposal of the hiking excursion on December 14 so they could speak alone.
Suspicious Circumstances Surrounding the Death
Pre-Excursion Behavior
Jonathan Andic's behaviour during the days before and after the fatal excursion also raised suspicions. Tracking of his car shows he visited the site of the excursion on December 7, December 8 and December 10, even though he said he had only been there once two weeks before his father's death.
Contradictory Statements and Evidence
Jonathan Andic gave conflicting versions of the events in two telephone calls to emergency services and in a later statement to police.
Police Simulations and Findings
In four simulations by police, they found that the footprint left at the scene and the way the body fell was inconsistent with a slip.
Police found he had fallen feet first as though on a slide. Nor were there injuries to the palms of the hands, leading them to rule out that he might have tripped on a rock.
Jonathan Andic told police his father had stopped to take photos at the spot where he fell, but when police searched the body they found his phone in his pocket and that it had only been used for photographs at the beginning of the hike, the writ said.
Loss of Evidence
Jonathan Andic also changed his telephone, losing all its data, saying it had been stolen during a three-day trip to Quito, Ecuador in March 2025. The loss of the phone coincided with press reports that the case had been reopened, the judge said.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Joan Faus; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Alison Williams)
