Earlier today, news broke out that Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is facing upto a five-year prison sentence for alleged tax fraud accounting to false income recorded in the years 2014 and 2015.
Following up on the story, El Mundo has reported that the Italian is ready to go to trial as he does not accept the prosecutor’s request for prison.
For what it is worth, the manager has set aside money for the trial. If found guilty, this money could help reduce the punishment because the harm has been fixed.
What’s the story?
Earlier today, we reported that the prosecution accused Ancelotti of only recording the money he got as a salary from Real Madrid in 2014 and 2015. They said that he did not mention any extra money he earned from his image rights.
They also say Ancelotti set up a tricky system of fake companies that they find hard to understand. The prosecution claimed Ancelotti purposely left out the money he got from using his image in ads when he filled out his tax forms.
This made it look like he didn’t earn as much and even showed he had a negative income.
It is Ancelotti’s turn
Carlo Ancelotti is ready to go to trial. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
Reacting to the series of events, Ancelotti has decided to go to trial to defend himself against the prosecutor’s accusation. For that, he has already paid back the money involved to potentially reduce his sentence if convicted.
It is to be noted that the prosecutor’s office in Madrid is seeking a sentence of four years and nine months in prison, accusing Ancelotti of defrauding just over a million euros between 2014 and 2015.
They claim he didn’t pay taxes amounting to €386,361 in 2014 and €675,718 in 2015. The prosecution is asking for two years and three months for the first charge and two and a half years for the second.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned outlet also quotes that last July, Judge Maria Inmaculada Lova concluded the investigation, holding Ancelotti responsible for not declaring income from advertising contracts.
Ancelotti argued that his tax residence in 2015 was not in Spain, which was accepted by the judge. But the Prosecutor’s Office successfully appealed against the investigating judge’s decision.
