Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, who manages the Spanish club Real Madrid, faces a potential prison sentence of nearly five years due to charges of tax fraud involving more than one million euros in 2014 and 2015.
According to the Spanish newspaper "AS," the public prosecutor in Madrid has requested a prison sentence of four years and nine months for Carlo Ancelotti. He's accused of tax evasion totaling 1,062,079 euros during the tax years 2014 and 2015.
The newspaper further reported that the tax authority managed to recover the owed taxes through seizures, with the total amount reaching 1,217,958.24 euros. This includes additional fees of 243,593.71 euros and interest amounting to 47,298.10 euros.
Ancelotti is accused of committing two crimes against the public treasury, and the treasury is demanding fines amounting to a total of 3,186,237 euros. He is scheduled to stand trial next Wednesday at the regional court in Madrid.
The prosecution asserts that although Ancelotti had confirmed his residence in Spain for tax purposes and declared Madrid as his address, he only reported his personal earnings from Real Madrid in his tax filings, omitting income from the exploitation of his image rights, which he allegedly transferred to other entities.
The indictment revealed that on July 4, 2013, Ancelotti signed a professional sports contract to coach Real Madrid from July 5, 2013, to June 30, 2016. This contract outlined his salary for the period, including earnings from his coaching duties and the revenue from transferring image rights to the club.
According to the public prosecutor, Ancelotti set up a complex network of funds and intermediary companies to avoid paying taxes on income from image rights. This arrangement allegedly allowed him and these companies to evade paying taxes both in Spain and abroad.
The prosecutor clarified that Ancelotti's income from image rights transfers amounted to 1,249,590 euros in 2014 and 2,959,768 euros in 2015, with neither he, "CA," nor the entities Vapia Limited and Vapia LLD paying taxes on these sums.