Real Madrid's Coach Faces Five Years in Prison for Concealing Income

The Madrid Prosecutor's Office is seeking four years and nine months of imprisonment for the head coach of Real Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti, for deceiving tax authorities in 2014 and 2015, amounting to approximately one million euros. This was reported by Relevo.

According to the indictment, the Italian declared only the compensation for personal work received from Real Madrid in his income statement, but did not declare income related to the use of his image rights, which he transferred to other organizations.

Ancelotti signed a labour contract with Real Madrid on July 4, 2013, for the period from July 5, 2013, to June 30, 2016. Although he was dismissed from his position on May 25, 2015, the specialist rented his house in one of Madrid's central squares until October of the same year. Thus, Spain remained "the main centre of his personal relationships and economic interests" throughout 2015, law enforcement officers note.

Also, in his contract with Real Madrid, in addition to his salary, there was a provision for "income received from the transfer of image rights of the club." It is precisely here that the prosecution sees deception: it claims that "in order to avoid taxation of income from these image rights," the coach resorted to a "complex and convoluted" network of trusts and nominal companies to receive income for using his image rights both by Real Madrid and other well-known brands.

Thus, the prosecution accuses him of "simulating" the transfer of his image rights to entities that "do not carry out real activity" and are registered outside Spain.

"Thus, he pursued the goal of opacity regarding Spanish tax authorities and hiding the real beneficiary of income from his image rights, so that neither he nor any of these companies would have to pay tax on large sums received in Spain or abroad," law enforcement officers note.

Recall, The Gaze reported that there is a tense battle for the champion title in the English Premier League among three top clubs - Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester City. Currently, only two points separate the top three teams in the Premier League - this is only the second time in the history of the competition that the top three leaders have 60+ points before the final 11 matches.