return for sponsorship by the bank of some university courses delivered in New York by Garzón between 2005 and 2006. This appeal to the Supreme Court follows a charge previously closed by the criminal court on 27 November 2006, since the alleged 1.2 million euro fee was deemed by the lower court to be in fact 216,000 euros, which was not paid to Garzón, but to the university foundation. The Supreme Court investigating judge insisted that there was clear evidence of wrongdoing involving some US$2.5 million, but, because the complaint was originally laid on 12 June 2009, but the last payment was made in May 2006 the three-year statute of limitations relating to the Supreme Court had been exceeded by 25 days. It was not clear why the case, previously archived by a provincial court on 27 November 2006 was not referred back to the lower court where a 15-year statute of limitations applies provided there is disclosure of 'further and better evidence' which might then lead to a jury trial. This Supreme Court corruption case against Garzón was closed on 13 February 2012, on the next-but-one working day after Garzón's conviction for bugging the Gürtel corruption suspects. Supreme Court trial On 9 February 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that judge Baltasar Garzón was guilty of illegally ordering the placement of wiretaps in jailhouses to record conversations between inmates and their lawyers in a case of corruption. Under Spanish law, such wiretaps are only expressly permitted for terrorism cases and the legality of their use in other cases is more vague. The Supreme Court also barred Garzón from the legal profession for 11 years. The court said: "Garzón's methods are typical of totalitarian countries, without any respect of the right of defence." Since Garzon can not appeal the charges, his career as a judge is likely to have ended. He was also fined €2,500. People protested the trial and ruling outside the court with banners calling for "justice" and photos of the people said to have been killed by the Franco regime. Many other judges also came out in support of Garzón. Given the severity of the accusations against the Supreme Court, a large number of persons and institutions issued statements in support of the ruling. The progressive Judges for Democracy association stated that "The Supreme Court and any other criminal court can only be asked to apply the law