Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will stand trial on Wednesday for allegedly failing to register income to Spain’s tax agency, the latest in a string of similar instances involving the country’s sports figures. Prosecutors are seeking a four-year and nine-month prison sentence for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of costing Spain’s state more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared image rights profits between 2014 and 2015. Previous similar cases involving football players resulted in suspended sentences. The trial will begin at 10 a.m. local time in Madrid’s High Court of Justice and is expected to last two days.
Prosecutors accuse Ancelotti of merely stating in his tax returns the personal salary he earned from Real Madrid during those two years, despite designating himself a tax resident in Spain and indicating that his house was in Madrid.
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They claim he established a “confusing” and “complex” network of shell businesses to conceal his excess earnings from his image rights and other sources, such as real estate.
According to a 2023 court document seen by AFP, the judge in charge of the inquiry stated that Ancelotti had “acknowledged” the activities that deprived the treasury of money, potentially opening the possibility to a last-minute agreement with prosecutors to settle the case without trial and escape prison.
Ancelotti, who has won a record five Champions League titles, three with Real Madrid, described the incident last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon”.
“I have faith in the legal and justice systems, so I am not concerned,” he said last week after the court set a date for his trial.
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