Court Upholds RD$500 Million Measures in Jet Set Case

The First Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeals of the National District has rejected an appeal filed by Antonio and Maribel Espaillat, leaving in place precautionary seizure, garnishment and provisional judicial mortgage measures capped at RD$500 million against their assets.

The measures stem from the criminal case over the April 2025 collapse of the roof at Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo. The disaster left 236 people dead and more than 80 injured, making it one of the country’s deadliest recent tragedies.

Court Says Measures Are Not a Civil Judgment

The appeals court, meeting in chambers and presided over by Judge Doris Josefina Pujols Ortiz, with Judge Daisy Indhira Montás Pimentel also sitting on the panel, ruled that the measures are precautionary, provisional and instrumental in nature.

That means the asset restrictions are intended to preserve sufficient property to potentially cover compensation for victims. The court emphasized that they do not amount to an advance civil judgment against the defendants.

Judge Rafael Báez García participated in the deliberations but did not sign the ruling because he was on vacation when the decision was finalized.

RD$500 Million Remains the Maximum Amount

The court also addressed concerns that the large number of victims could result in property seizures exceeding the amount authorized by the lower court. The judges pointed to the decision of Raymundo Mejía, judge of the First Court of Investigation of the National District, which established RD$500 million as a specific financial limit.

According to the appellate court, enforcement of the precautionary measures cannot exceed that amount. The existence of multiple victims, it ruled, does not by itself justify removing the legal mechanism designed to preserve assets for potential compensation.

The judges further noted that Dominican civil procedure provides mechanisms to correct excessive enforcement. Under Article 50 of the Code of Civil Procedure, seizures can be reduced, limited or canceled when serious and legitimate grounds exist.

The court concluded that the appellants had not demonstrated that the measures had lost their precautionary purpose or that enforcement had already resulted in an asset restriction exceeding the RD$500 million ceiling. It therefore rejected the request to revoke the measures or replace them with a bond.

Who Challenged the Measures?

The appeal was also filed by Ana Grecia López and Evelyn Espaillat, together with the companies Inversiones EyL, S.R.L.; Radio Cadena Comercial, S.R.L.; Difusora Hemisferio, S.R.L.; and Inversiones CCEP-2, S.A.

The challenge targeted the seventh section of Resolution No. 057-2026-SACO-00101, issued on June 15, 2026, by Judge Raymundo Mejía. That resolution also ordered the opening of a trial against Antonio and Maribel Espaillat over alleged violations of Articles 319 and 320 of the Dominican Penal Code.

The defendants’ side argued that treating the RD$500 million precautionary measure as a global guarantee could produce a much larger effective restriction if individual victims were allowed to pursue separate enforcement actions.

They asked the appeals court to revoke the seventh section of the lower court’s resolution and replace the precautionary measures with a bond for the same amount issued by an insurance company. They also requested that the beneficiaries of the proposed guarantee be individually identified.

With the appeals court’s ruling, the precautionary measures remain in force and continue to be subject to the RD$500 million limit established during the investigation phase of the Jet Set case.