Carlo Ancelotti has declared in court that he never intended to defraud the Spanish tax authorities and that neither the club nor his advisors warned him that there was anything incorrect in the taxation of his contract.
The Provincial Court of Madrid began on Wednesday the trial of the soccer coach, for whom the Prosecutor’s Office is requesting four years and nine months in prison, accusing him of defrauding the Treasury of just over one million euros.
Specifically, he is accused of having defrauded the public treasury of 1,062,079 euros in the fiscal years of 2014 (386,361 euros) and 2015 (675,718 euros) during the first stage in which he coached Real Madrid.
The Prosecutor’s Office charges the Italian coach with two crimes against the Treasury because, despite his status as a resident in Spain for tax purposes and his address in the capital, he only recorded in his income tax returns remuneration for personal work received from Real Madrid and omitted the performance of his image rights, “which, fictitiously, he intended to have ceded to other entities.”
According to Ancelotti, it was Real Madrid that proposed to him to collect part of his salary in the form of a transfer of 50% of his image rights, and he always thought that this transfer “was to receive the salary that he had negotiated,” of six million net.
Ancelotti claims he was unaware of any wrongdoing
Ancelotti’s defense hinges on his claim that he was unaware of any wrongdoing and that he relied on the advice of Real Madrid and his advisors. He argues that he believed the payment structure was legitimate and that he had no intention of evading taxes.
The prosecution argues that Ancelotti knowingly concealed income related to his image rights by claiming to have ceded them to other entities. They claim that this was a fictitious arrangement designed to evade taxes.
If found guilty, Ancelotti could face a prison sentence of up to four years and nine months. He could also be fined a substantial amount of money. The trial is a serious matter for Ancelotti, and his career could be at stake.
