Former Manchester United winger Angel Di Maria has been given a one-year prison sentence and fined 2million euros (£1.76million) after pleading guilty to two counts of tax fraud in Spain.
The Argentinian, who now plays for Paris Saint-German, is unlikely to spend any time behind bars though – most sentences under two years in Spain are suspended for first-time offenders.
Di Maria spent four seasons with Real Madrid between 2010 and 2014 and the details of his case have been confirmed by the Spanish tax authorities.
The case relates to the 29-year-old’s image rights in 2012 and 2013, and he has agreed to repay £1.14million as well as a 60% fine. This is similar to deals struck with the Spanish taxman by fellow Argentinians Javier Mascherano and Lionel Messi last year.
(John Walton/EMPICS)
Messi and his father were given 21-month sentences for three counts of tax fraud but did not go to prison, while Mascherano was given a one-year sentence for tax evasion.
The background to this is a concerted attempt by public prosecutors in Spain to target high-earners suspected of tax evasion, with Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo the most recent big names implicated, although both have strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Speaking to Press Association Sport, Miles Dean, the founding partner of Milestone International Tax Consultants, said: “This is a witch hunt against the wealthy, which is not limited to footballers. This is jealously riding roughshod over the rule of law.”
The guilty pleas of Di Maria, Mascherano and Messi, however, would suggest this is not always the case and Mourinho and Ronaldo will need to be certain the offshore companies they set up to receive their image-rights payments are entirely legitimate.
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