Simon Hunter
THE Madrid public prosecutor is calling for Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti to be given nearly five years in jail over tax fraud claims.
Sources from the prosecutor’s office told news agency Europa Press that they are seeking four years and nine months in prison for the 64-year-old Italian, for allegedly having defrauded nearly €1.1 million from the Spanish taxman in 2014 and 2015.
The allegations centre around Ancelotti’s place of residence during the years in question, which he stated was Spain. Despite this, his tax returns for the years in question only included his pay from Real Madrid and omitted the income from his image rights, which he had ceded to other firms.
The prosecutor claims that he made use of a ‘complex’ and ‘confusing’ web of trusts and companies in a bid to ‘avoid paying tax on the income from said image rights’.
The income from these rights, according to the prosecutor, amounted to €1,249,590 in 2014 and €2,959,768 in 2015, with neither Ancelotti nor the companies that owned the rights paying taxes on these amounts.
The Real Madrid coach, who ran the team from 2013 to 2015, before returning in 2021, is also alleged to have not declared two properties he owned abroad.
This led the Spanish Tax Agency to calculate that he avoided €1,062,079 in taxes: €386,361 in 2014 and €675,718 in 2015.
Ancelotti, who is considered one of the greatest managers of all time, is the latest in a long line of high-profile figures to fall foul of Spain’s tax authorities.
In November of last year, Colombian singing superstar Shakira finally reached a deal with prosecutors over €14.5 million tax fraud accusations.
And back in 2019, former Real Madrid football player Cristiano Ronaldo paid nearly €19 million as part of a deal that allowed him to avoid jail for tax evasion offences.
Read more:
Former Real Madrid manager and current Everton boss, Carlo Ancelotti accused of tax fraud in Spain
