Julio Ponce Lerou is a Chilean forest engineer and businessman who is the principal shareholder of Soquimich, the largest lithium producer in the world. He is a former son-in-law of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Ponce was president of Chilean state-owned forestry company Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli until 1982 while he was simultaneously president of CELCO, a wood pulp company.
, Ponce is accused of a millionaire fraud and embezzlement that affects the pension funds of millions of Chilean citizens under what is known as the .
In his youth, he attended the University of Concepción, where studied medicine for a year. Then, he finished his Bachelor of Arts at the University of Chile.