The Spanish authorities have forced Afinsa to suspend operations due to a raid on their offices and seizure of papers. Escala group shares are reportedly down by some 53% due this raid and the ongoing investigations into Escala/Afinsa operations. The investigation is said to be revolving around an alleged stamp investment fraud involving some 200,000 small investors in Europe. I’ve been writing about this “investment” group in Philatelic Tidbits for about a year now, with a sneaking suspicion that eventually something like this would happen. I’m sorry to say, those predictions have now come true, and I hope that at least some of those investors who have lost their money will get some kind of retribution. Another thing to think about here is that Afinsa group has in its holdings the bulk share of all the Europa stamps issued to date. They will likely be held up for years to come as the investigation continues.