The Spanish prosecutor’s office announced on Wednesday, March 6, that it will request four years and nine months in prison for the coach of Real Madrid, the Italian Carlo Ancelotti, who must be tried soon for a case of alleged tax fraud.
In a lengthy statement, the Madrid Prosecutor’s Office indicated that it “requests four years and nine months in prison” for the coach, whom He is accused of “two crimes once morest the Public Treasury” for having allegedly defrauded more than one million euros in the years 2014 and 2015 by avoiding declaring their income from image rights.
The announcement comes hours before Real Madrid faces RB Leipzig in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16, a key match that comes following the 1-0 victory in the first leg in Germany.
In July of last year, a Madrid court had already announced that it would take the Italian coach to trial, following three years of investigation.
The process still does not have a set date, the Prosecutor’s Office indicated to the AFP.
According to the tax administration, Ancelotti declared his income as coach of Real Madrid in 2014 and 2015, but not those from image rights and other sources, such as some real estate properties.
“Although he himself affirmed his status as a resident in Spain for tax purposes and stated that his domicile was in Madrid, he only recorded in his tax returns the personal work remuneration received from Real Madrid.“explains the Prosecutor’s Office in its statement.
The income derived from the transfer of image rights was, according to the Public Ministry, 1.2 million euros in 2014 (US$1.3 million) and 2.9 million (US$3 million) in 2015.
According to a judicial document consulted by the AFPCarlo Ancelotti acknowledged the facts during the investigation, which might open a way to reach a possible agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office to avoid a prison sentence.
“Confusing framework”
For the Public Ministry, Ancelotti’s omissions in his tax returns were voluntarysince the Italian coach “turned to a ‘complex’ and ‘confusing’ network of trusts and interposed companies to channel the collection of image rights.”
In this way he “simulated” the transfer of his rights to entities “lacking real activity” domiciled outside Spain “thus pursuing opacity in the face of the Spanish Public Treasury,” the statement adds, citing the terms used by the Prosecutor’s Office in its written.
Ancelotti, according to the Public Ministry, agreed “in parallel” to his signing as coach of Real Madrid, a private contract with the club by which he transferred 50% of his image rights.
The other 50% was owned by an “unnamed” and “undetermined” company that “acted in the name and representation of the Italian coach,” says the Prosecutor’s Office.
Carlo Ancelotti, 64, was coach of Real Madrid in a first stage between 2013 and 2015, before returning to the white bench in 2021. Also known as ‘Il Mister’, The Italian has accumulated a long list of titles in a career that also led him to manage clubs such as AC Milan, Chelsea and Bayern Munich..
Ancelotti is not the first international star to have problems with the Spanish treasury.
Also accused of tax fraud, the then stars of FC Barcelona, Lionel Messi, and Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, were sentenced to million-dollar fines and sentences of 21 and 24 months in prison respectively, which were replaced by the payment of separate penalties. economic.
In Spain, however, sentences of less than two years for people with no criminal record are not usually carried out.
Likewise, the Colombian singer Shakira, who still has another open tax case, avoided undergoing a high-profile trial in Barcelona in November for defrauding the Spanish Treasury following reaching a last-minute agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office to acknowledge the facts and commit to paying a fine of more than seven million euros.
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