La Liga: Carlo Ancelotti accused of tax fraud in Spain
Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti might be gearing up for a legal battle as he’s been accused of tax fraud in Spain.
El Mundo reported that the judge in the case, María Inmaculada Lova, accused Carlo Ancelotti of hiding €400,000 from his image rights deal in 2014, coinciding with his first spell in La Liga with Real Madrid.
The judge noted that this ‘concludes the investigation against the Real Madrid coach and maintains that he hid his image rights during his first spell at the head of the white team’.
It was also alleged that the tax fraud has been acknowledged by Carlo Ancelotti who claimed that he was badly advised.
As a result, ‘the trial to be held soon will close with an agreement in which the defendant will accept a prison sentence that does not imply the payment of the defrauded quota and the corresponding sanction’.
At the same time, Ancelotti was exonerated of a second tax offence that the Treasury had attributed to him until now, relating to 2015.
The Italian tactician is not the first big name in Spanish football to be targeted by tax authorities in recent years.
Former Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo was charged with tax evasion between 2011 and 2014 and was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.
Barcelona icon Lionel Messi was also hit with a suspended 21-month sentence related to €4.1 million worth of tax fraud between 2007 and 2009.
Spanish football legend, Gerard Pique, was also given a €2.1m bill when he was found guilty of image rights fraud.
Carlo Ancelotti is regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time. He has lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy on a record four occasions. Twice each with AC Milan and Real Madrid.
He also won the old European Cup in 1989 and 1990 while playing for AC Milan. Those victories placed him among an elite group of only seven people to have won either the European Cup or Champions League as both a player and a manager.
He is the only manager to ever win the title in all five of Europe’s top leagues. Ancelotti has also won the FIFA Club World Cup for a joint record three times, as well as being the manager to win a record four UEFA Super Cups, again with AC Milan and Real Madrid.
