Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is the latest to be pursued by the Spanish authorities for tax fraud, with the public prosecutor seeking nearly five years in prison.
Ancelotti has been under investigation for his first spell at Los Blancos, and OKDiario have published information coming out of the Public Ministry that the prosecution has requested a sentence of four years and nine months in prison. The total deficit is just over €1m.
The charges relate to tax evasion, where during the period of 2013 and 2014, Ancelotti allegedly put in place a complex and confusing series of building societies in order to avoid the correct taxation of his image rights during that period. Reportedly the Italian ‘simulated’ the concession of his image rights to other companies in order to hide the income.
Naturally, it is unlikely to be Ancelotti himself that handled his finances, but he is just the latest in a series of names to be targeted, including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Shakira, Neymar Junior, and Xabi Alonso. The majority of these cases end with a settlement with the authorities, although Alonso fought and was successful in proving his innocence. If the sentence is reduced to less than two years by the judge, then it can be served as a suspended sentence for first-time offenders if it is a financial crime.
