BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Brazil’s coach, Carlo Ancelotti has been sentenced to one year in prison by the Madrid Provincial Court for tax fraud related to the 2014 fiscal year, according to EFE Noticias.
The ruling, announced yesterday, was due to Ancelotti’s failure to declare income from his image rights during his tenure at Real Madrid.
While the prosecution initially accused him of defrauding a total of €1,062,079, covering 2014 (€386,361) and 2015 (€675,718).
The court only upheld the 2014 case because there were not enough evidence for gurthr allegations.
Ancelotti was found guilty of deliberately evading taxes in 2014 by using complex structures involving trusts and offshore companies to hide income derived from his image rights.
The fraud amounted to €386,361.93, for which he must pay a fine of the same amount. He is barred from receiving public subsidies or tax incentives and social security benefits for three years.
During the commencement of the trial earlier this year, Ancelotti maintained that he never intended to defraud the tax authorities and claimed he acted based on advice from Madrid and his financial advisors.
He requested acquittal but, if convicted, asked for mitigating circumstances to be applied, citing that he had already settled the debt in December 2021 and highlighting delays in the judicial process.
Under Spanish law, sentences of less than two years for non-violent first-time offenders are typically suspended, meaning he is unlikely to serve actual jail time.
This conviction adds him to a list of high-profile football players and coaches who have faced legal action over tax problems in Spain, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho.
