The sentence handed down on Thursday can be appealed, but Mr. Rato and other former Bankia executives are also awaiting a ruling in a separate, broader case
that is centered on claims of mismanagement of the lender.
Mr. Rato was forced to resign in May 2012, just before Bankia was nationalized
and the Spanish government negotiated a European bailout to rescue the country’s banking sector.
MADRID — Rodrigo Rato, a former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was convicted
on Thursday on charges of misusing the funds of a Spanish bank that he led to near-collapse.
He was sentenced alongside 64 other Bankia directors and executives, who were accused of making unlawful credit card purchases
that totaled 12.5 million euros, or $13.2 million, over a decade.
Mr. Rato is the most prominent person to have been convicted since the rescue of the bank, Bankia, in 2012.
Once thought to be a potential Spanish prime minister, Mr. Rato had been finance minister in the conservative government of José María Aznar.