Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti has denied before the court having intentionally committed tax fraud on the opening day of his trial for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the latest in a string of such cases targeting sports figures in the country.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of failing to pay more than one million euros ,$1.1 million, due to undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015 during his first spell at the club.
They argue Ancelotti had only reported the salary he was paid by the club and had omitted income from his image rights in his tax returns during this period.
Prosecutors allege he set up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings during this time from his image rights and other sources such as real estate.
Ancelotti told the High Court of Justice in Madrid that this payment system had been proposed to him by Real Madrid, and that “all the players do it” as did another former coach, Jose Mourinho.
“When the club suggests it to me, I put Real Madrid in touch with my advisor. I didn’t deal with it because I had never been paid that way”, he said.
“I never realised that something wasn’t right”, he added, saying he “never considered committing fraud”.