The Prosecutor's Office requests 4 years and 9 months in jail for Ancelotti for defrauding the Treasury of 1 million euros | Soccer | Sports | EUROtoday

The Madrid Provincial Prosecutor's Office has requested 4 years and 9 months in jail for Carlo Ancelotti, coach of Real Madrid, for having defrauded the treasury of 1,062,079 euros within the fiscal years of 2014 (386,361 euros) and 2015 (675,718 euros). The public ministry prices him with two crimes in opposition to the Treasury, since, even though he himself affirmed his standing as a resident in Spain for tax functions and that he mirrored that his handle was in Madrid, he solely recorded the remunerations in his revenue tax returns. of non-public work acquired from Real Madrid. He thus omitted the efficiency equivalent to the exploitation of his picture rights that he had transferred to different entities.

The indictment maintains that Ancelotti signed an employment contract as coach of Real Madrid on July 4, 2013 for the interval between July 5, 2013 and June 30, 2016, “specifying his remuneration for that period, In addition to work income, income derived from the transfer of image rights to the club.” Furthermore, it specifies that since July 2013 the accused started to work and reside in Spain, establishing as his domicile and ordinary residence a property positioned in a central sq. in Madrid. However, when the coach ended his relationship with Real Madrid “early” on May 25, 2015, he had the house rented till October of that 12 months, so throughout 2015 “Spain was his main center of personal and personal relationships.” Economic pursuits”.

During his time in court, in July 2021, Ancelotti acknowledged before Judge Inmaculada Lova Ruiz that he did not correctly pay taxes for the 2014 financial year, but attributed this irregularity to poor advice. In fact, to correct the error, the white team's coach offered to pay the amount close to 300,000 euros that he is accused of having defrauded that year.

However, Ancelotti did not make the same statement in relation to 2015, the year in which he was dismissed as coach of Real Madrid. In this sense, the now accused defended that he did not spend in Spain 183 days – the minimum time established to consider a person resident in national territory – but 158 ​​days, something that he assured that he could prove. Legal sources consulted by EL PAÍS point out that this second exercise may be the most controversial in the trial, since it was archived during the investigation, but was reopened after the Prosecutor's Office appealed.

The Madrid coach referred to that year on Wednesday night, immediately after sealing his place in the Champions League quarter-finals (1-1 against Leipzig): “It's an old story that started eight years ago, with the statement from 2015, when the Prosecutor's Office thinks that I was a resident in Spain. But I don't think I was a resident then. I have already paid the fine. The money is already in the Prosecutor's Office. The lawyers are talking to find a solution. “I am convinced that I am innocent because I was not a resident in 2015. Let's see what the judge decides,” he said laconically.

Transfer of image rights

In its indictment, the public ministry emphasizes that “in order to avoid taxation on the income from said image rights” both those received by Real Madrid and other brands for various events, the coach went to a “complex ” and “confusing” network of trusts and companies filed to channel the collection of image rights. Thus, it “simulated” the transfer of its image rights to entities “lacking real activity” and exploitation capacity that were domiciled outside of Spain “thus pursuing opacity in the face of the Spanish public treasury and the concealment of the real beneficiary of the income from his image rights, so that neither he himself nor any of said companies would have to pay taxes on the large amounts received in Spain or outside our country.”

Ancelotti, in accordance with the Prosecutor's Office, signed a non-public contract on July 1, 2013 during which he transferred his picture rights to the entity Vapia Limited for a interval of ten years and a value of 25,000,000 euros. A day later, the entity names the Real Madrid coach as his consultant, “granting him most powers to handle his picture rights.” Later, on an unspecified date, an annex to the settlement was formalized that changed the length of the settlement, lowering it to 3 years and the acquisition value of the picture rights decreasing it to 1 million euros.

On July 4, 2013, “parallel” to his signing as coach of Real Madrid, the accused was granted a non-public contract with the membership during which he transferred 50% of his picture rights to the sports activities entity between 5 July 2013 and June 30, 2016. The different 50% was held by an “unnamed” and “undetermined” firm that acted within the identify and illustration of the Italian coach. This firm turned out to be Vapia LLP, domiciled in London, and never Vapia Limited, an organization included within the Virgin Islands, a circumstance that was not communicated to Real Madrid till a 12 months later. “In this way, the accused used the company Vapia LLP so that it formally presented itself to Real Madrid as the owner of the image rights, despite the fact that it had not even been formally attributed them, since the aforementioned transfer contract of July 1, 2013 was with Vapia Limited,” the letter adds.

Ancelotti, according to the Prosecutor's Office, submitted his self-assessment declarations corresponding to personal income tax on time, in which he affirmed his status as a resident in Spain and where his address was a property located in a central square in Madrid, he only stated the personal work remuneration received from Real Madrid. However, “it omitted all revenue equivalent to the exploitation of its picture rights (…) thus arriving at declarations with adverse quotas” with a negative balance of 39,575 euros in the fiscal year of 2014 and 529,076 in 2015, amounts that They were returned by the Tax Agency in both cases.

The Prosecutor's Office specifies that the income derived from the transfer of image rights represented income amounting to 1,249,590 euros in 2014 and 2,959,768 in 2015 without Ancelotti or the other two entities having paid taxes on these amounts. But in addition, the technician also omitted in his statements the ownership of two real estate properties located abroad. After carrying out the corresponding adjustments, the Spanish Treasury calculated the loss suffered based on omitted rents and income and refunds obtained at 1,062,079 euros (386,361 in fiscal year 2014 and 675,718 in fiscal year 2015).

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