MADRID (AP) — Spanish prosecutors said Friday they shelved an initial investigation into sexual assault allegations by Julio Iglesias in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic after concluding that Spain’s National Court lacked jurisdiction to try the matter.

Earlier this month, Spanish prosecutors had opened an investigation into allegations that the Grammy-winning global singing star, 82, had sexually assaulted two former employees at his residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

Iglesias denied the accusations and wrote on social media that: “It is with deep pain that I respond to the accusations made by two people who previously worked in my home. I deny having abused, coerced or disrespected any woman. These accusations are absolutely false and cause me great sadness.”

Spanish state prosecutors said on Friday they were shelving an initial investigation into allegations of sexual assault by Julio Iglesias in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic after concluding that Spain's National Court lacked jurisdiction to try the matter.
Spanish state prosecutors said on Friday they were shelving an initial investigation into allegations of sexual assault by Julio Iglesias in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic after concluding that Spain’s National Court lacked jurisdiction to try the matter.

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An email seeking comment sent to a Florida attorney whose website says Iglesias is among his clients was not immediately returned.

The two women had filed a complaint with the Spanish court earlier this month, according to Women’s Link Worldwide, a non-governmental organization that represents them. The group said the women accused Iglesias of “crimes against sexual freedom and compensation, such as sexual harassment” and “human trafficking for the purposes of forced labor and servitude.”

The women also said that Iglesias periodically checked their cell phones, forbade them from leaving the house, and required them to work up to 16 hours a day, without a contract or days off.

When the complaint was filed in Spain, the organization said it had not contacted authorities in the Bahamas or the Dominican Republic and did not know if investigations had been launched in those Caribbean nations.

Iglesias has been among the world’s most successful singers in the decades since his 1969 debut album, “Yo Canto.” He has sold more than 300 million records in more than a dozen languages.

After starting out in Spain, Iglesias gained immense popularity in the United States and the rest of the world in the 1970s and 1980s, in part due to his duets with American artists such as Willie Nelson and Diana Ross.

He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 and in 1988 won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance for his album “Un Hombre Solo.”

He is also the father of pop star Enrique Iglesias.