A developer tied to a stalled luxury project in Tulum was arrested in Nuevo León and jailed at the Apodaca prison, accused in a 57 million peso Tulum real estate fraud case.
The detention of José Manuel Mireles Verástegui marks the first arrest tied to a dispute that has moved through Mexican courts for years. It links property promises in Tulum and Playa del Carmen, a contested federal amparo, and a formal complaint against the judge who granted it. For anyone tracking the Riviera Maya property market, it is an unusual case of a developer ending up behind bars.
An arrest warrant sends one partner to Apodaca while the other stays free
Mireles Verástegui was admitted to the Apodaca prison after authorities in Nuevo León executed an arrest warrant for his alleged role in the fraud. He now faces the judicial process from custody.
His business partner, developer Pedro Babb, remains free. According to Gabriel Garza Fernández, the lawyer representing the complainant, Babb holds a provisional suspension obtained through an amparo granted by a federal judge based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The two men are named together in the investigation, yet their legal situations have split sharply: one jailed, one shielded.
How a childhood friendship turned into a fraud complaint
The case grew out of a complaint filed by the affected investor. Through her legal representation, she says she was persuaded roughly a decade ago to put money into several real estate projects that never came together.
Garza Fernández said the relationship between the investor and Babb, who had been friends since childhood, was decisive in convincing her to invest. That trust, in the lawyer's account, is what opened the door to the losses now under investigation.
The financial harm is estimated at 57 million pesos. The figure has been cited consistently across the reporting on the case and anchors the criminal complaint in Nuevo León.
The Emma and Elissa apartments offered after five years of broken promises
Babb is accused of inviting the victim to invest in a luxury residential development planned for Tulum. Five years passed with no progress on the work, and the money was never recovered.
As an alternative, she was offered eight apartments in the Emma and Elissa complex in Playa del Carmen, a property administered by Mireles. The arrangement, meant to make her whole, instead became part of the fraud allegations now before the courts.
The complaint sits within a wider pattern of fraud cases that have shadowed the Riviera Maya property boom, where foreign and domestic investors have reported paying for beachfront units that were never finished or never built.
Why the Tulum real estate fraud case now hinges on jurisdiction
The fight has shifted from the developments themselves to the courtroom. The judge in Matamoros confirmed publicly that she granted the provisional suspension in Babb's favor, while clarifying that no definitive ruling on the amparo has been issued and that the proceeding remains open.
Garza Fernández challenged the suspension through a complaint filed with the Tribunal de Disciplina Judicial Federal, arguing that the events fall outside the Tamaulipas court's jurisdiction. The domiciles of those named, the alleged conduct, and the criminal process all sit in Nuevo León, he contends, not in Tamaulipas.
For now, Mireles faces the case from Apodaca while Babb remains free, the amparo awaits a final resolution, and the fraud investigation continues. The next turns depend on how the disciplinary complaint is handled and whether the suspension protecting Babb holds.
Should a federal amparo from another state be able to shield developers from an arrest warrant issued in Nuevo León? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes.