Lawyer Leticia de la Hoz quits as Koldo García's defender amid Okdiario payment row

Filing to the court

Leticia de la Hoz has given up the defense of Koldo García, the former adviser to former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, in the 'caso Koldo' before the Audiencia Nacional. In a written filing sent to the investigating judge, Ismael Moreno, she cited professional reasons that she said are covered by professional secrecy, without giving details. She informed García of the decision in advance so that he could arrange his defense.

“For professional reasons, the content of which is covered by professional secrecy, I renounce continuing to exercise the defense of Koldo García Izaguirre in this case.”

Until García names a new lawyer of his choosing, or the court assigns one, De la Hoz will handle urgent procedural steps so that he is not left without a defense. Her exit means García will need his third lawyer in the case, after De la Hoz and Ismael Oliver, who resigned in June 2025, according to LaSexta. The Supreme Court trial, in which García was tried together with Ábalos and businessman Víctor de Aldama, ended with a 19-year prison sentence for García, which El Mundo puts at 19 and a half years. De la Hoz had defended García throughout that process.

Okdiario payments

Before stepping down, De la Hoz asked the court for permission to explain who had paid García's defense, after suspicion that the PSOE had. She filed two invoices showing that Dos Mil Palabras, the publisher of the digital outlet Okdiario, paid her firm 242,000 euros in total, along with the transfer orders documenting the payments. The first invoice is dated 27 November 2025, the day García gave interviews to Okdiario in which he made claims against the government without supporting evidence, according to elDiario.es. El País reports that De la Hoz disclosed that Okdiario covered the costs of García's defense.

The documents were handed to the court investigating the 'caso Leire', where prosecutors and the judge are still weighing how they affect the case.

The Leire case and García's allegations

De la Hoz is herself under investigation in the 'caso Leire', in which judge Santiago Pedraz is examining an alleged plot to derail court cases affecting the PSOE, the government and relatives of Pedro Sánchez. The alleged plot is said to have been led by former PSOE leader Santos Cerdán and coordinated by former party member Leire Díez. De la Hoz is accused of taking part in an attempt to bribe businesswoman Carmen Pano, which she denies, according to elDiario.es. Pano told the court that she had carried bags of cash to the PSOE headquarters at Ferraz, as El Mundo reports. In recordings reported by El Mundo, García claims the PP asked him to 'sing' against Sánchez and members of the government in exchange for one million euros, while El País reports he also claims the PP offered to cover his defense costs.

What comes next

De la Hoz has asked the court to require García personally to appoint a new lawyer of his choice, according to the filing El Mundo accessed. The sources do not yet report a ruling on her resignation. Decisions by the Anticorruption prosecutors and the judge on how the invoices affect the 'caso Leire' are still pending. According to elDiario.es, the PSOE is studying whether to file a querella over García's latest claims about the PP.