José Serrano is held at El Encuentro: What cases does he face?

José Serrano arrived in Ecuador deported from the United States on Aug. 28 and was taken to El Encuentro prison. The former interior minister and former president of the National Assembly is under a pretrial detention order in the investigation into the killing of Fernando Villavicencio.

Serrano has also faced complaints, allegations and investigations linked to several other cases. They concern alleged demands for payments from public employees, a 2012 kidnapping, an alleged attempted murder, the disclosure of confidential information, influence peddling, bribery and Villavicencio’s assassination. The cases are not all at the same stage.

In March 2019, while Serrano was a lawmaker, former aide Oswaldo Rivadeneira accused him of allegedly demanding 10% of the salaries of about 500 Interior Ministry employees during Serrano’s time leading the institution.

In July 2023, Fernando Balda accused Serrano of alleged involvement in his 2012 kidnapping in Colombia. Pablo Romero, a former intelligence secretary linked to the Correísmo movement, was convicted in that case and still faces a trial summons and an active arrest order, according to the report.

Lawyer Luigi García filed an attempted-murder complaint in August 2023. García had represented Washington Prado, known as “Gerald,” an Ecuadorian drug trafficker serving a sentence in the United States. The information provided does not specify what happened to that complaint afterward.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a preliminary investigation in January 2024 over the alleged disclosure of confidential information. The inquiry followed a post by Serrano on X saying that prosecutor César Suárez had been killed after requesting urgent information related to the wife of Adolfo Macías, known as “Fito.”

In May 2024, Jorge Pinto filed a complaint alleging influence peddling and bribery. The allegation emerged from the U.S. trial of former comptroller Carlos Pólit, during which insurance businessman Diego Sánchez testified that he had paid Serrano a bribe. By May 2025, Serrano had also been identified as part of an investigation into the Villavicencio case.