Brazilian national team manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has been sentenced to one year in prison for tax fraud committed in 2014, during his previous tenure as Real Madrid manager.
Ancelotti, an Italian manager renowned for his decorated career, has left a significant legacy at numerous elite clubs he has coached. His extensive coaching career includes stints at powerhouses such as Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, and Real Madrid, where he managed during the years under investigation.
A few months prior to leaving Real Madrid, Ancelotti attended court to address the allegations of tax fraud. Today, a Spanish court officially sentenced the Brazil coach to a year in prison for failing to declare income from image rights while he was Real Madrid coach in 2014, as stated in a Madrid court statement.
During a high-profile trial in April, Ancelotti vehemently rejected the allegations of intentional wrongdoing.
He maintained that he did not understand that an arrangement enabling part of his salary to be paid through image rights companies would result in reduced tax payments. “I never realized that the way my image rights were being managed could be considered tax evasion,” he told the court.
In its ruling, the Madrid court convicted Ancelotti of “an offense against the treasury… to the punishment of one year in prison” and ordered him to pay a fine of 386,361 euros (approximately $452,821). However, the court cleared him of any wrongdoing related to the 2015 tax year.
Under Spanish law, any sentence under two years for a non-violent offense does not usually require a convict with no prior criminal record to serve the sentence in prison.
