Jet Set owners to stand trial in Dominican Republic nightclub collapse

A judge in Santo Domingo ordered Jet Set owners Antonio Espaillat and Maribel Espaillat to stand trial, moving one of the Dominican Republic’s deadliest nightlife disasters into a courtroom more than a year after the roof collapse killed 236 people. The ruling keeps alive a case that has come to symbolize not only grief, but the question of why a crowded venue was allowed to operate with fatal structural weaknesses.

The collapse struck on April 8, 2025, during a performance by merengue singer Rubby Pérez, turning a night of music into a mass-casualty emergency. Rescue officials later said 189 people were pulled alive from the rubble, while more than 180 injuries were reported in some accounts. Authorities eventually said the recovery phase had ended and no one remained trapped in the debris.

Prosecutors have alleged that Jet Set had operated for years with “systematic and gross negligence” in maintenance and structural adaptation. Reporting also cited a worker warning on April 7, 2025, that ceiling panels were breaking and a piece of the roof was falling, a detail that raises hard questions about whether the collapse was preventable if warnings had been taken seriously. Investigators identified rooftop loads including air-conditioning units and water tanks as contributing factors, pointing to a building burdened over time by layers of equipment and construction changes.

Antonio Espaillat and Maribel Espaillat were arrested on June 12, 2025, and prosecutors filed formal charges in November 2025 before the judge’s ruling this week sent the case to trial. ABC News reported that each could face up to two years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter, a modest sentence compared with the scale of the loss but still a meaningful test of accountability in a disaster that shook the country.

The collapse killed Rubby Pérez, former MLB players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco, and Monte Cristi governor Nelsy Cruz, deepening the national trauma and widening the public demand for justice. The trial now asks more than who bears legal blame. It tests whether venue owners, inspectors and public authorities will be forced to confront the safety failures that left 236 dead and more than 100 injured in one of the country’s most devastating preventable tragedies.