The son of Mango’s billionaire founder was allegedly advised by a therapist to confront his father during a mountain hike before the fashion tycoon fell to his death.
Isak Andic, 71, was walking with his 45-year-old son Jonathan near the Catalan city in late 2024 when he plunged around 500ft from a cliff.
Police initially opened and then closed an inquiry into the fatal fall, but confirmed in October that they were examining the case as a possible homicide.
Jonathan Andic has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has maintained that his father’s death was an accident. He was arrested in May on suspicion of homicide.
Investigators have now reportedly questioned a British translator based in Barcelona who said she was the person who chose a hiking route close to the spot where Mr Andic fell while walking with his son.
According to Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia, the unnamed British witness told police she had been following instructions from the Andic family’s therapist, Maria Julia Luderwaldt, who wanted to place the father and son in an extreme situation.
The translator, who had occasionally worked with Luderwaldt, reportedly said Jonathan Andic was meant to create that intense moment by “standing on the edge of a cliff” with his father.
La Vanguardia added that the therapist’s intention was to help the Mango heir break free from emotional bonds she believed had shaped his life.
Jonathan Andic arrives at a Barcelona court on May 19, where he was questioned in connection with the death of his father, who fell off a Spanish mountain nearly two years ago
Jonathan (above) was the only person with his 71-year-old father, Isak Andic, when he died after plunging nearly 500ft during a mountain walk near Barcelona
Helicopters attempt to recover the businessman’s body after the incident in December 2024
The British woman is understood to have handed police all the messages she had exchanged with the therapist, La Vanguardia reports.
In one message where she asked Luderwaldt what had happened on the hike after news of the fatal plunge emerged, the therapist is said to have replied: ‘Maybe it’s better if I don’t know, just in case I’m the next one.’
La Vanguardia said the British national had given two statements to police, one on June 29 when accompanied by a lawyer she decided to reveal over two hours what she had kept quiet during ‘a year and a half of sleepless nights’ and a second on July 6 in an interview lasting four hours.
On the second occasion she was reportedly shown photos of the area on the scenic Feixades Path in the Montserrat Mountain where Isak Andic fell.
She is said to have done the walk with Jonathan a week before his dad’s death, but told police she couldn’t identify the specific location from the pictures.
The translator is now set to be called to ratify the statements in front of a judge and face new questions, as has already happened with other witnesses including the mental health professional she says asked her for help with the walking route.
Maria Julia Luderwaldt is one of the witnesses who appeared in court in Martorell near Barcelona on June 30 so she could be questioned by the judge who made Jonathan Andic a homicide suspect.
Her behind-closed-doors court appearance followed reports she intervened in favour of Isak Andic giving his son a significant sum of money so he could pursue a series of professional ventures on his own and Jonathan could try to step out from under his father’s ‘powerful shadow.’
Isak’s golfer girlfriend Estefania Knuth, the first person Jonathan called after his dad fell, was another of the four people who appeared before investigating judge Raquel Nieto the same day to give evidence.
Jonathan Andic has insisted his 71-year-old dad’s death was a tragic accident and not a crime.
The investigating judge, who allowed him to go free following his arrest after he posted one million euros bail, outlined the reasons for her decision to make him a homicide suspect in an extraordinarily explicit 17-page legal document released to the press.
She outlined the ‘bad relationship’ Andic had with his dad when he died in the December 14, 2024, fall, initially treated as an accident.
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She also highlighted how he had done a recce of the route they took in the Montserrat mountains where the Turkish-born business mogul lost his life during the pair’s walk together.
She referenced Jonathan’s ‘obsession’ with money and revealed police studies showed the marks left on the ground where Isak Andic died did not coincide with a simple slip, a claim the arrested man’s lawyers are contesting.
The female judge, who authorised the May 19 surprise arrest, also revealed Mr Andic’s under-investigation son had claimed the old phone he was using when his dad died had been stolen during a trip to Ecuador.
In a lengthy explanation of the prima facie indications of criminality which had led her to place Jonathan under investigation and order his remand to prison before he posted bail to avoid incarceration, Mrs Nieto said in her written ruling identifying father and son by their initials: ‘From the investigative procedures carried out, it is concluded that there are sufficient indications to consider that the death of Mr. I. A. may have been a non-accidental death, with active and premeditated involvement in the death of his father by Mr. J. A.’
Mr Andic was a Turkish-Spanish businessman who co-funded clothing retailer Mango
Mr Andic with Jonathan at Barcelona Fashion Week in 2012
Jonathan Andic announced shortly after his arrest he was stepping down as Mango’s vice-president to focus on his legal defence, describing the accusation against him as ‘serious, unjust and unfounded’ in an open letter to staff.
He wrote: ‘A public narrative has been constructed that is one-sided, taken out of context and distorted, and which has created a perception of guilt that bears no relation to reality.
‘I know that dismantling it will require time, effort and intense dedication.’
Jonathan’s defence team subsequently shared a video of Isak falling over months before his mountain death while on his way to a Barcelona business lunch, revealing Isak had a degenerative disease leading to the progressive wearing away of the articular cartilage in the knee joint.
A shocking text message leaked last month showed Jonathan had written a text message to his dad in July 2024 which said: ‘I’m not surprised you thought I was even capable of killing you.’
Andic’s defence team responded by claiming the message, written as part of a wider conversation linked to therapy family members were having at the time, had been taken out of context.
Mr Martell, a prestigious Venezuelan-born lawyer whose previous clients have included ex-Barcelona footballer Dani Alves, who was initially found guilty of raping a woman at a city nightclub but acquitted on appeal, said shortly after Mr Andic’s arrest: ‘The homicide conjecture is inconsistent. But above all, it is painful. It stigmatises an innocent man.
‘Now the process truly begins, and the truth and innocence will shine through.’
A recording of the tearful 999 call Jonathan made after his wealthy father’s mountain plunge was also released last month.
The 45-year-old could be heard sobbing as he told an operator: ‘I need help, I need help, my father has fallen.
‘He’s fallen down a ravine. Please send someone, send an ambulance, send someone please.’
Isak, also father to two daughters, Judith and Sarah, founded Mango along with his brother Nahman in 1984.
By March 2024, it had over 14,000 employees working in more than 2,700 stores operating in over 110 countries, with 45 stores in the UK.
It went on to announce it was teaming up with Victoria Beckham to launch a new capsule collection to mark its 40th anniversary.
Forbes had estimated Mr Andic’s net worth shortly before his death at $4.5 billion, making him Catalonia’s richest man and one of Spain’s wealthiest people.
He owned a private plane which cost him more than £25 million and a 175ft yacht with around the same value.
He was planning to have the world’s largest yacht built but U-turned on the idea of Nirvana II before construction of the more than 330ft-long vessel got underway.
His discreet lifestyle meant that until 2007 he didn’t make public appearances and was very difficult to photograph.
In the year 2010, he was Spain’s second-richest man.
