Banco Espírito Santo collapsed in 2014 and its chief Ricardo Salgado was sentenced to eight years

José Maria do Espírito Santo e Silva began trading lottery tickets, currency and securities in Lisbon in 1869. His heirs built Banco Espírito Santo. The bank was nationalised in 1975 and the family rebuilt its group abroad through a Luxembourg holding company. Ricardo Salgado, a family member, ran BES for more than 20 years^†. In the first half of 2014 the bank lost about $4.8 billion. Salgado resigned and on 24 July 2014 was detained and released on €3 million bail. On 3 August 2014 the Bank of Portugal split BES. Good assets went to a new bank, Novo Banco, recapitalised with €4.9 billion, mostly a state loan. A Deloitte audit found BES managers disobeyed the central bank 21 times. On 7 March 2022 a Lisbon court sentenced Salgado to six years for diverting €10.7 million. The Lisbon Court of Appeal raised it to eight years on 24 May 2023. The Supreme Court confirmed it in February 2024. The Constitutional Court closed his last appeals in December 2025. His lawyers filed a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in October 2021. In June 2024 he received a further six-year sentence in the EDP corruption case. The main BES trial opened in Lisbon in 2024^† and had no verdict by October 2026^†. In January 2026 a judge was to decide whether his health allows prison. French bank BPCE agreed to buy Novo Banco in June 2025. In 2026 the state resolution fund set aside €630 million for BES creditors.