The mansion that Spanish singer Julio Iglesias owns in the paradisiacal location of Punta Cana, in the east of the Dominican Republic, and where he allegedly harassed and sexually assaulted former employees, is a luxury and privacy refuge that the artist turned into his home several decades ago. The house, divided into several bungalows, is surrounded by trees, has an impressive entrance and pool, and is difficult to access, so only authorized personnel can enter the area, as witnessed by EFE during a past visit to the property. The bathrooms and main living room are equally majestic, as is the recording studio, where the artist has gathered family and friends, but also journalists, either for the release of an album or to announce a concert. The performer, who has sold over 300 million records worldwide from his hundred recorded albums, has never hidden his love for the Dominican Republic, especially for Punta Cana, a place he learned about through a friend, the late Dominican designer Oscar de la Renta. In fact, Punta Cana owes part of its tourist development to the performer of worldwide hits like 'Don Quixote' and 'I Forgot to Live'. 'I could have lived in any country in the world, but I chose this one for all the love they have always given me,' he once said about the Dominican Republic, whose nationality was granted to him years ago. His presence in the Dominican Republic, however, has decreased since the covid-19 pandemic, and since then, only a few visits to the country have been known, one of them in January 2024, when authorities confiscated a load of fruits and vegetables he tried to bring into Punta Cana on a flight from the Bahamas, just as the country had detected the presence of the Mediterranean fruit fly in the area. In the Punta Cana house, as well as in other properties he has in Spain and the Bahamas, Julio Iglesias allegedly harassed and sexually assaulted two employees, according to a journalistic investigation by eldiario.es and Univisión Noticias in the United States, revealed this Tuesday. 'That house should be called the little house of horror because it is a drama, something horrible,' one of the former employees recounted. One of the women was a domestic employee and the other a physiotherapist, according to the information, which contrasted the testimonies of both with interviews with professionals who treated their sequelae and who claim to have documents that support their employment relationship with the composer. The accounts of both describe sexual aggressions such as non-consensual penetration, slaps, humiliations, and systematic labor humiliation of them and other employees. This Tuesday, it was also reported that the Prosecutor's Office of Spain's National Court has opened proceedings to analyze a complaint filed on January 5 against the singer for the facts collected in the aforementioned journalistic investigation. A source from the Attorney General's Office of the Dominican Republic told EFE that for the moment, there are no complaints about the facts in the country.
