The trainer pleads not guilty at the start of his tax fraud trial, but admits: ‘If I’m here, things weren’t all that legitimate’
Coach Carlo Ancelotti began his trial for fraud this Wednesday (2/4). The Real Madrid coach is accused by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid of not having declared more than 1 million euros (around R$ 6.1 million) to the Spanish tax authorities.
The amounts come from image rights received by Carlo Ancelotti during his first stint at Real Madrid – 386 thousand euros in 2014; 675 thousand in 2015. In his first statement, the Italian declared himself innocent of the charge of tax fraud and ended up ‘revealing’ the salary he received at Real Madrid between 2013 and 2015.
“I was only worried about the 6 million euros in three years. I was never aware that anything was wrong. I did not receive any notification from the Public Prosecutor’s Office saying that I was being investigated,” claimed the 65-year-old coach.
“When Real Madrid made me this offer, I contacted my English representative and did not speak about the matter again, because everything seemed correct to me. I did not think it was fraud. But, if I am here today, it is because things were not so legitimate,” he admitted.
According to the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office, Ancelotti received image rights through companies based in other countries in order to deceive the tax authorities. The Prosecutor’s Office requested four years and nine months in prison for the Italian, in addition to a fine of 3 million euros (R$ 8.4 million).
Carlo Ancelotti is not the first football star to have run into trouble with the Spanish Treasury. Also accused of tax fraud, Barcelona star Lionel Messi and Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo were sentenced to huge fines and prison sentences of 21 and 24 months respectively, which were replaced by the payment of fines.
In Spain, however, sentences of less than two years for people with no criminal record do not usually lead to prison.
